The cabinet committee on national service shouldn't fret about the problem of national service dodgers, the 5,000 plus ingrates that have forgotten their solemn duty to the nation.

I have it in kaleidoscope colour; shoot them. Line them up in their fineries, march them to the quadrangle and put them out of their miseries.

Why not? Nation building is of paramount importance, that is why the whole national service bill was rushed through an impotent parliament with great speed. Face it, it is Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's pet project.

So without any ado, just execute these young people who do not understand the dire straits this nation is facing.

The deputy prime minister, who is also defence minister, also established that there is no need for a carefully planned national service programme, with actual financial and logistic planning. That is why most NS victims are put into university lodgings, and made to train in universities that were never made for events like this. University calendars are altered to accommodate this programme.

Just on a whim, the minister proposed for a national service programme. You know that it was on a whim when the whole measure started of as a programme similar to the Singapore's national service, then was toned down to partial weapons training, then toned down to discipline camp and now ended up being an over-glorified summer camp with boots.

The minister has decided that a random number of youths can be called and then made to abrogate their freedom for three months, and neither their parents or them can have a say over whether the government can do that.

It is conscription and only in Malaysia, conscription is done willy-nilly. And now we are facing the spectre of dealing with draft dodgers, who have no Canada to run to and neither the political proclivities of Cassius Clay.

If these 5,000 plus were indeed conscripted but failed to show up, then the penalty for their action should be high. For in normal terms, ignoring the draft means you are turning away from fulfilling a role that is integral to the integrity and defence of your nation.

Which leads us to the second question: is there a clear and present danger, and will this clear and present danger be ameliorated by the conscription of thousands of young Malaysians?

The minister is convinced there is, and if the minister is infallible, then these dodgers are endangering Malaysia, therefore they should be shot.

Perhaps there is a better explanation, on why these dodgers are not forthcoming. They published the names of the initial call up and now the 'no shows' in major newspapers.

Does the minister not know that an overwhelming majority of young people in this country do not read? No RM500 million was spent on a reading campaign, so forgive them for never having looked at a borrowed newspaper beyond the pictures in the sports pages.

I am convinced, however, if they had pasted the list with an a SMS competition, then somehow every young person would have known if they were called up or not in record time.

The banter aside, these dodgers are calling Najib's bluff. And the minister is calling their bluff by asking the law to mete out the maximum punishment of RM3,000 or six months in prison or both. Will a man looking for grassroots support in his party send 5,000 young persons into prison?

The truth is that in all likelihood, the NS programme will go down the same track as the Rakan Muda programme. That is, like most half baked initiatives by our illustrious ministers, down the proverbial sink. Apparently the more senior you are, the more dramatically logic defying your plans will be.

The reason why ministers propose these plans from time to time, is to create public interest in their projects. The reason why they do not fear the consequences of offering poorly thought-out projects is because no one is put on the chopping block when they do.

For them, after all, there is no accountability.