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Najib should set example of accountability and transparency by releasing details of contracts to provide hotline, SMS and website on selection of first batch of 85,000 National Service recruits and their performance Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang (Penang,  Wednesday): Defence Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, the supremo of the haphazard National Service programme,  should set an example of accountability and transparency by releasing details of contracts to provide hotline, SMS and website on selection of first batch of 85,000 National Service recruits – all three of which had proved to be disasters as far as the services are concerned but not in terms of profitability for the companies concerned. As Dinesh Nair said in his weblog, (http://www.alphaque.com/): “The website, run by Xybase Sdn Bhd could not handle the influx of hits it received. What shocks is the response given by Murad Rashid, the website project manager. "Because we got so many hits, 100 queries at the same time, we are upgrading and fine-tuning the website,". One hundred simultaneous hits, and the website turns turtle with its paws up in the air. As those who've run moderately busy websites will tell you, 100 simultaneous hits is barely the tip of the iceberg. It doesn't even put a load on the server, and should not be a cause for concern.” The Short Message Service (SMS) at RM2 each is just cut-throat, as 480,000 18-year olds eligible to be recruited would mean a million-ringgit collection, when SMS is supposed to be cheaper and faster than the ordinary telephone service. The National Service was introduced to instill and inculcate national unity, patriotism and discipline.  It seems to have become an opportunity for profiteering in the name of “national unity, patriotism and discipline”. There has been a lot of muddled and confused thinking at   every stage of its conception, formulation and implementation and this is why the DAP had called for the deferment of the introduction of the national service programme this year. There should be a re-think of the current programme of  National Service, which is a misnomer  when it  has nothing to do with “national service” nor is it national. The many criminal sanctions and custodial offences involved in the national service training programme is also contrary to modern-ideas of volunteerism and democracy.  Most ridiculous of all, the three-month programme is supposed to rectify the failure of 11-year educational system to create “national unity, patriotism and discipline”. (10/12/2003) * Lim Kit Siang, DAP National Chairman