National Service Dodgers: Legal Action Threat A Big Joke.

The way that the government was threatening NS dodgers with all sorts of punishment, I would have thought that by now the absentees at the camps would have dropped to near zero. But true to form our authorities have chickened out at the end and no one has been prosecuted since that debacle in Perlis where one youth was charged, the authorities castigated and accused of cruelty and the state government, directly or indirectly, paid the bond!

Under the National Service Training Act 2003, dodgers are liable to a fine of up to RM600 or a jail term not exceeding six months or both. But in the thinking of our pemimpin2, every dodger punished represents the loss of a few hundred family votes for the Barisan Nasional. So as usual we talk and threaten but alas no action brudder. The dodgers and their families know that and the NS authorities know that the families know it. So at the end, no action, no prosecution. Semuanya OK.

DPM Najib when questioned about it very cleverly passed the buck by saying, "you have to ask the police about that. They will hand over the matter to the Attorney-General’s Department for further action." 'Further action?' In which year? 2020? He also said that only those who 'blatantly' refused to attend would be punished! What is the criteria to determine blatant refusal? What is the difference between refusing to attend and 'blatantly' refusing to participate? In my opinion it is simply a device to let all the dodgers off the hook, thereby saving face and votes for the government.

Read the NST report on the topic here:
Except for Ahmad Harizal Ahmad Fauzi, none of the 4,000-odd youth who failed to attend the National Service over the past two years has been punished. And Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, when asked to comment, said the matter was with the police.

"You have to ask the police about that. They will hand over the matter to the Attorney-General’s Department for further action," he said after launching the first NS training camp for the year at Kem Lagenda Seri Negeri here yesterday. A total of 735 trainees are taking part in the three-month stint. Present was NS Council chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye.

Although Najib, who is Defence Minister, did not comment on the delay in reprimanding the dodgers, he stressed that only those who blatantly refused to participate in the programme would be punished.

On May 12, 2005, Ahmad Harizal, then 18, was fined RM600 or two weeks’ jail by the Kangar magistrate’s court for dodging the NS. However, the following day, the Kangar High Court released Ahmad Harizal on a RM500 bond for a year. He had skipped training to work in a padi field to help his divorced mother and three siblings.

Najib did not give the latest number of dodgers. However, it was reported on May 21, 2005, that there were 4,269 youth who had failed to attend the training.

Asked on the case of Ili Ameera Azlan, 17, who died mysteriously while attending the NS programme in Ayer Keroh, Malacca, last Thursday, Najib said further laboratory tests were required to ascertain the cause of death. "We have yet to determine the cause of death as more tests are required."
Image - Source:
1) Empty threat
2) Pass the buck