Guns in the Hands of Babes

Its been a brilliant week, hasn't it?

On one hand we thought the government was finally getting it right when our Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein made it known that the PSD will state the criteria for selecting scholars. Then Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Zainal Abidin Zin has to go and spoil it all by announcing that NS trainees may be taught to handle firearms as part of their training, namely M16s (oooh... I'm thinking Wei Kiat would love to have gone for NS, even though his obsession with guns and all other harmful weapons is scary enough as it is!).

Not only is this news extremely disturbing to me (and I just cannot imagine what my parents are going through seeing that my sister has 2 years to go before NS), it is even more disturbing to hear the words that are coming out of the mouths of senior government officials. Do they truly believe what they are saying?

To quote the Deputy Defence Minister in The Star (16 June 2005):

“It is more of an exercise in learning to take care of oneself. This is so that they are confident of handling a weapon.
Another reason was that after their NS training, the trainees were eligible to enter the armed forces and the firearms training would be helpful then,”

I am not alone in seeing the contradiction here, am I? You don't learn to be independant so that you are confident of handling a gun! Does he realise the atrocities that result from learning to handle firearms? Does he know that in the Singaporean NS, boys have died from mishandling firearms. It isn't just a matter of Malaysian NS trainees going amok and shooting one another and trainers (as if it wasn't bad enough with the brawls that occurred over small things like stolen handphones). Will we now have NS trainees getting their faces blown off due to a carelessly loaded M16 in the name of patriotism?

Sure, our Malaysian youth think its cool to be taught to handle guns. But just speak to our friends in that sunny island down south. It really isn't so cool when the gun is in your hand and a fatality could happen anytime, especially with the typical Malaysian lackadaisical attitude. Sure, I speak with no firsthand experience. But I know the fear of worrying till I'm sick about my closest friends in the army.

But then our Deputy Defence Minister again has to make other inane statements, and this one unsurprisingly appeared in the Singapore Straits Times (17 June 2005):

'People were comparing our national service programme with Singapore's,' Datuk Zainal Abidin said on Wednesday.
'If they can incorporate weapons training in their programme, I do not see why we cannot do the same. We train trainees in unarmed drill and combat and we give them disciplinary training.
'There is only one thing missing, and that is firearms training.'

He doesn't see why we cannot do the same? Because we are NOT the same! Singapore is training a reserve army. We are trying to instill patriotism in our kids. It's not that Singapore can incorporate weapons training. They need to! We on the otherhand do not need one more way to arm young hooligans who beat up other trainees and even their own instructors until the Defence Minister was ready to call the army in to sort them out.

I shouldn't have this feeling of giving up on my country more and more everyday, but when I read things like this, it is hard not to: (Straits Times, 17 June 2005)

'There is nothing wrong with it as it can help the security of the nation. Guns can be used for a peaceful purpose too,' Datuk Siva Subramaniam, secretary-general of the National Union of the Teaching Profession, told The Straits Times.

Not a single religion in our country would ever professed that guns can be used as weapons of peace. And they made you in charge of our teachers? Why??!!?? And also in the very same article:

Datuk Michael Yeo, chief executive of the Asian Strategy Leadership Institute, said weapons training should be provided in addition to military-type drills already in the national service scheme.

Oh yes, we needed to hear a representative from each major ethnic group in Malaysia make a stupid comment for the benefit of Singaporeans to laugh at us. Why are these people allowed to walk freely on the streets? They might as well remove gun laws in Malaysia.

And finally from the big guy himself (and we know he is a big guy since that talk that was held in Imperial College), our Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak comes out to reassure parents with the words:

“We want to include the element of discipline among the trainees and strengthen their spirit. The trainees will feel much more motivated and disciplined when they learn to stand in line with their M16 rifles,”

And further comforted parents by adding that the NS concept would not be changed to one that was focused on military training as was done in Singapore. (Read more here)

Oh sure, we don't want to be like Singapore. But yet we can whine that if they can have weapons training why can't we? Oh, help! God, please help!

Has the Defence Ministry seen the photo slideshows they show the recruits in Singapore on how guns have exploded and disfigured trainees? Have they read how every once in awhile, a young soldier dies on account of a misguided bullet during training? And we haven't yet begun to talk about M16 wielding angst youth with emotional or mental problems. Do we need an unnecessary death to occur before the Defence Ministry stops waving around these ridiculous ideas? At least discuss the pros and cons of it before telling the public and causing a wave of fear among parents, not the other way around!