KHIDMAT NEGARA IS DA BEST!

Most of us do not remember anything from our History lessons in school, except maybe a man named Temenggung Jugah anak Barieng, cos well, you know, he had hair which looked different.

However, most of us will remember that Malaya (as it then was) was invaded by the Japanese sometime in 1942 . They rode their bicycles in through the South and invaded Malaya. So the 18,000 biycles (the Bicycle Brigade) huffed and puffed from Johore and conquered Malaya for the next three years.


Many of us shake our heads in disbelief. Really? Japanese soldiers on BICYCLES?
Of course, our countrymen fought hard to resist the Bicycle Brigade and we salute them for fighting for the country, however, it cannot be denied that these men from the land of the Rising Sun whooped our asses during World War 2.

What exactly is the point of the whole story actually?

Well, the new "training programme" of the National Service (Khidmat Negara!) trainees got me thinking about that small part of History I had hidden at the back of my head.

So the NS trainees now cannot go jungle trekking when its dark or whatever time there is a hint of dark skies. They do not go jungle trekking when its too hot either. No too much sun or too little. Just in between. And the trekking cannot be more than 3-4 kms. Too much walking if more than that. No dense jungles. Only secondary jungles where there are probably some overgrown weeds and some "wild animals". No combat training in the sun either. They wont be learning much about firearms. They cannot have endurance training for too many hours. ( After all, our enemies do not attack in the dark, or when its too hot. They will come when the skies are bright, but the sun isnt too hot and they will avoid the dense jungle which is so confusing.)

All they would be doing in the three months that they are part of the NS is to march around like stupid idiots (For what? I dont have a clue!), take part in a financial course (so that they manage their finances properly) and try to swing on a rope across a small pool of dirty muddy water. And in between all these, they attend motivational talks and learn how to joget or do the sumazau dance in preparation for their graduation. And of course parents have been asking for an ALL WOMEN training camp because apparently, if you separate the girls from the boys when they are at this age, they will be forever repulsed by boys and there will never be any more unwanted incidents with boys and girls anymore. (HURRAH!)




See? All of them hard at training!

SO, what is the point of having our youngsters join the NATIONAL SERVICE again? Its a place where the Government spends millions of RM to train them to, be well, nothing much really. I can say for a fact, after finishing their training, the boys do not suddenly become men and the girls do not end up tougher and more ready to face whatever challenges they encounter. Though the news say that SOME of them apply for their dream jobs with FULL CONFIDENCE. (Wah!So impressive. No need any degrees or any tertiary education just FULL CONFIDENCE!)They end up looking darker and thinner and a they have a greater appreciation for the comforts of home.

The whole point of the NS was to emulate the Singapore system whereby the boys who finish school do a compulsory two years training in the Army to well, toughen them up. These people jump from planes, do endurance training, learn firearms and do all the things the army is suppose to do. Not march around and learn how to joget. Like seriously.

And we wonder why we got invaded by the Japs on bicycles. I think if they were to come again now, they can probably take us even while they are barefooted and naked.