Conflicts in NS Camps aa Result of Trainees' Cultural Differences

At a National Service (NS) camp in Kuching, cultural differences among the trainees there lead to misunderstandings and fights at the various camps nationwide, council chairman Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe said. He reported after seeing about 250 trainees for three month at Serian, Bau and Sematan camps on Saturday, they have carried studies concerning these and discovered that most of the problems arise due to the trainees' background. They even had trainees from states like Kelantan and Kedah who never mixed with other races, so when they were posted to states like Sarawak, where there are many ethnic groups, misunderstandings occurred because of cultural differences. He also added that there were some bad trainees who liked to disturb others and stole others' personal items such as mobile phones. He have reminded the commander of every camp to monitor their trainees, so that there will be few cases of misunderstanding and fights at NS camps. Dr Tiki said the council would revise the NS programme and content to ensure these would be relevant to trainees, amid changes taking place in the country's social and political scenes. He added that it was important for trainees to be able to play and work as a team because NS was to promote unity among races and build up discipline and leadership.

I have been to National Service before when I was 17 years old, and I am actually not shock that there are fights and arguments happening in camps, being in place like this, there will always be misunderstandings among the trainees because of cultural differences. A lot of people have actually lost their personal belongings, such as mobile phones, mp3 and more because when they are from a rural area and then you meet someone from Kuala Lumpur, they would actually want those kind of things that only city people can afford, so they will actually steal it. It is wrong but it was just the way it was when I was in National Service. The trainees who steal should actually get kick out from the camp because they are the ones who are causing the troubles.

(Article)