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National  Service  is  once  again  proven  to  be a futile and wasteful   national disservice   Media Statement by Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew (Petaling Jaya,  Tuesday):  The  recent  Indian  Ocean  tsunami disaster has taken more than 130,000 lives  from  Aceh  to  Somali, leaving more than a million other victims   wounded  or  homeless.  These areas devastated by the killer waves needs   every  help  one  can  imagine.  Many  temples  and  churches, NGOs, big   corporations,  political parties and ordinary Malaysians have turned outin  big  number  to  donate  cash  and contribute old clothes, footwear,   foods,  drinks,  medicines  and  other  useful materials, hoping to help   victims  not  just  in  Malaysia  ,  but  also Sri Lanka, Aceh and other   affected regions.    All  these  regions  hit  by  the  tsunami  naturally  need thousands of   volunteers to help distribute foods and other materials. And eventually,    these  victims  would also need volunteers to help them to rebuild their   houses.    That  ‘s  where  our  Malaysian  young adults can help. We were very sad   indeed to hear that the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak   has  rejected  the  proposal made by the Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang   without  giving  a  careful  thought or study. Lim has earlier suggested   that  the  Government  should  seriously  consider  sending trainers and   trainees  (with  the  consent  of  their  respective  parents) under the    National   Service  project  to  Aceh  and  other  hard-hit  regions  as   volunteers.  We  were, of course, not asking our young adults to collect    dead bodies or anything that needs special skills and expertice.    Besides helping the victims, we also believe that our young adults could   learn  a  great  deal  about  humanity  and  values  in  life.  And such    meaningful   activity  and  experience  should  be  good  for  character   building,  which  happens  to  be one of the main objectives of National    Service.    Najib  has  missed  a  golden opportunity to educate and train our young   adults.  He  could  have  made  a  difference  to the mundane and boring    National  Service  that  cost RM500 million every year to our taxpayers.   Failure to send trainers and trainees to help the tsunami victims in our    country  and  our  neighbours  has  once  again proven that the National   Service is just a costly and futile project, a national disservice. (4/1/2005) * Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew, DAP International Secretary and NGO bureau chief