National Service - Is it a fun camp?

If you look at the NS advertisement in the tv, the programme looks like the camp was fun, everybody inside the short film were singing and laughing. What do you all think? Is the camp for fun or is it for the sake of nation to create a second line of defence? I think everybody is thinking that such programme is much like a summer camp but if not, why they kept advertising that the programme was fun?....

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/2/15/nation/3273255&sec=nation

Sunday February 15, 2009 - The Star
NS is no fun camp, says D-G
By M. SHAMINEE


KAJANG: The National Service (NS) training programme should not be treated as “fun camps” by trainees and parents.

National Service Training De-partment director-general Datuk Abdul Hadi Awang Kechil said he was aware of NS trainees who did not take things seriously.

To make things worse, he said, there were also parents who regarded the NS training as “summer camps” for their children.

“The camp prepares trainees as a second line of defence for the country. It is by no means a fun outing.
 
“They are to act as the pillars supporting our frontline,’’ he said after launching a futsal and netball competition between the NS trainees at the Kajang Sports Planet yesterday.

Abdul Hadi explained that the NS programme was unlike the one in Singapore and South Korea, where the NS trainees there underwent military-style training.

“Our main aim is to instil discipline in the trainees and also prepare them mentally and physically so that when they go out, they can serve the nation no matter what in line they pursue,’’ he added.

Hadi said the NS trainees were always welcome to serve the armed forces and Civil Defence Department.

“One of my biggest challenges is to make sure that we present the programme in a way where we can get our message across and also at the same time make it interesting for the trainees,” he added.

He said the department had also started a community service programme involving about 32,100 trainees from all over the country.

“All our programmes are designed to create teamwork and harmony regardless of the trainee’s race and background,” he stressed.

Later in Bangi, Abdul Hadi presented a cheque for RM128,000 to the family of Norhisham Hamzah, an NS employee who died in an accident last September.