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13 Young Malaysians Robbed of Their Lives - Does the Government Care?
National Service was supposed to bring Malaysians together. It seems to be breaking families apart.
Mohd. Rafi his 5 siblings were already orphans to begin with. As if that wasn’t enough, government negligence has robbed the family of yet another.
Over 3 years, they had 12 deaths to learn from.
12 people died, one by one, and the government has done nothing, and has learned nothing.
How can we keep asking Malaysians to send their kids to a program where 13 people have died? What kind of program is this that doesn’t care when families lose their loved ones, and does nothing to improve itself, even after 12 deaths.
We’re not talking about kids being cheated, mistreated or even injured. We are talking about lives being snatched away when they should be in the flower of their youth.
50 years of this government, 50 years of independent nationhood; instead of sending Mohd. Rafi to the hospital when it could have saved his life, we literally let him rot.
Mohd Rafi Ameer, 18, died at 10.30pm after having fever since last week, his sister Jubaidah said.
Jubaidah, 25, when met at the hospital, said her brother called her at their home in Bukit Rotan, Kuala Selangor, last Saturday, telling her that he had fever and that his leg had been swollen for nearly a week after he fell during training.
She said she contacted the camp management to enquire about her brother’s condition but was admonished and told that the management could look after Mohd Rafi.
Obviously not.
And don’t go blaming some trainer peon.
After twelve deaths, only the people in charge are truly responsible.
I believe one such man is National Service Chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, who I distinctly recall some high-ranking cop urging me to emulate.
I think not, sir, TS Lee has got blood on his hands.
The other man with blood on his hands is Najib.
13 NS deaths and SEVENTY FOUR Nuri deaths all come directly under Najib’s responsibility.
We spend billions on fighter jets and submarines, the rakyat’s hard earned money wasted on vastly over-inflated commissions for Najib’s cronies; we spend yet more billions building mega-project ghost towns..
We couldn’t spend a hundred ringgit or less to make sure that people like Mohd. Rafi get sent to the hospital in a timely manner?
Is Najib too busy or too preoccupied with other deaths to care? What could be more important than safeguarding the lives of our children?
Sigh.
Blood on shamed hands, and yet another family forced to endure even more senseless tragedy… :(
Is the rules and regulations too tight for the kids?
Is the kids allowed to use the fixed line phone (not all kids has mobile phone) to call his family (non weekends)? What’s reported in the newspapers, it seems the kids only allowed to make call on Saturday ? It seems so because no one would stand fever for one week then only let his family know.
This following statement already proved complete negligence of the camp management.
“She (Jubaidah) said she contacted the camp management to enquire about her brother’s condition but was admonished and told that the management could look after Mohd Rafi”
How could the management look after a kid who had fell, probably the wound has been infected, and had been in fever for almost a week? Are they any medical specialist? Did they send the kid to the hospital only when he fainted (obvious sign of death). Very obviouslah, otherwise they would’ve said “we would send a doctor to treat him” instead of “we could look after him”. It is obvious they want to let the boy’s condition deteriorate more before really call for external medication.
I think this program completely neglects the safety of the children. Sometimes, when the kids complain of sick, maybe slight fever, it cannot be taken lightly, they should provide immediate medical attention, and should be allowed to opt for external medical advice (who knows what standard the doctor they provide?).
The teens could have grown up to be doctors, lawyers, entrepeneurs, politicians, scientists, teachers, etc had they just stayed at home.
Yang lebih menyakitkan hati, kita sendiri juga yang akan merana di masa hadapan kerana tidak pandai menjaga bakal2 modal insan yang dapat membawa negara kita ke tahap yang lebih tinggi.
Kematian 13 pelatih PLKN tidak bermaksud kita hanya kerugian 13 bakal modal insan. Hakikatnya, kita kehilangan lebih dari itu.
Kita kehilangan bakal doktor yang mampu menyelamatkan ratusan lagi nyawa, kita kehilangan guru yang dapat mendidik anak anak menjadi insan yang berguna, kita kehilangan saintis yang mungkin dapat mencipta penawar untuk pelbagai penyakit. Kita juga kehilangan peguam yang mungkin dapat menyumbat mereka yang benar benar bersalah ke dalam penjara dan membebaskan mereka yang tidak bersalah langsung.
Sekali imbas, kata kata saya ini seperti tidak munasabah tetapi saya ini jenis yang percaya pada kemungkinan itu sentiasa ada. There is always a possibility bak kata orang putih.
Renungkanlah.
[...] How many voting blocks does he want to alienate? At least he should learn from our No. 2 Ladies Man (yes, the one with blood on his hands). [...]
Nat,
Thanks for pointing out some facts. It seems apparent something is lacking in Najib or TS lee. I hate to say this but these accidents or incidences may be simply because bad things happen. No matter how careful you maintain certain equipment, there is always a chance of failure, usually due to something unforseen by the parties who thought they were being vigilant.
Is there a benchmark of “casualties under leadership” ?
Don’t get me wrong here. I am not siding for TS lee or najib. it really seems to me that what has happened here is purely due to the don’t care attitude. But there are bound to be incidences when you fly in a helicopter / send a bunch of teenagers into camps in large groups.
[...] I really can’t help but think, TS Zaki Tun Azmi is lucky that his ‘national service’ doesn’t come with the risk of death. Mohd Rafi wasn’t so lucky. [...]
[...] earlier post on orphan Mohd Rafi, and today’s [...]
Hi,
Allow me to clarify that I’m a Singaporean and have gone through 2 years of military National Service in my home country.
Also, i thoroughly enjoy reading your posts about the happenings in Malaysia. I find them to be very informative and witty and at times scathing, but still within control =)
It is rather interesting to read that 3 years after the inception of KN, there have been 13 deaths. It is indeed sad and unfortunate.
But it seems to not make even more sense when in Singapore, all the male youths go through 2 years of intensive military trainings, handling weapons, living in jungles and pushing our physical limits to the max which infact till now has produced little or no death/casualties.
True, there are deaths involved, but it is usually outside the context of military training. What is lacking i believe is the emphasis on medical safety and knowledge of the training staff to handle emergencies. Every soldier and every commander is taught the importance of looking after oneself and his buddy or platoon/section mate
Every soldier in Singapore is taught to report to the medical center immediately and inform his superiors if he feels unwell, be it a cough or a fever. His superior will access him and if he isn’t malingering, then he will be sent to the medical center or be given a day off from training.
Even while training outfield, a NSF (National Service Full-time) soldier is never rejected medical assistance should he feel unwell.
Trained medics (Often NSFs as well) are always present for every exercise, and yes, even for PT runs and physical exercises. It is stated in our doctrines that no planned exercise shall continue without medical coverage. Medics are trained personnel to deal with emergencies and take appropriate actions. The presence of appropriate medical coverage, trained medical personnel and an ambulance for high-risk activities (i.e Rappelling, river-crossing etc etc) gives the public and soldiers confidence to continue training and to focus on the task at hand.
I believe the authorities will need to look into having a better medical infrastructure coverage for KN. The meaningless loss of lives and plain ignorance and negligence on such an important aspect of safety is a huge travesty and must not be left ignored.
It makes no utter sense when the youths die during the course of NS because of high-risk training or activities, but rather because of the complete lack of knowledge and understanding of the importance of basic safety guidelines to protect and prevent such unfortunate cases from occurring.
Anyway, just my 2 cents worth =D I’ve since left the force after 2 years of NS and will be looking forward to my 10 years of reservist. =D
Take care!
I fully agree that lack of medical attention and facilities, and many of the cases that occured in Malaysia could have been avoided. In the government’s haste to implement the KN has overlooked some critical aspects which I will avoid from digressing into.
One main issue is complete medical checkup pre-enlistment. Singapore requires all recruits to undergo a medical before placing them to the different tasks. Filling in of a survey will not disclose any medical condition unknown to the person involved.
However, I am of the opinion that some remarks that you have made may be misguiding for those who will use Singapore as a benchmark of casualties during NS. There have been many rumours about unreported incidents including stray bullets during live-firing.
Admittedly, the training that takes place in Malaysia does not come close to matching NS in terms of danger level and intensity. However, without the sufficient trained personnel (even I qualify to apply as a trainer), it is highly likely that many more avoidable situations will take place.