MUET Holiday Assignment

Name : Nur Rifah Syahirah binti Sharum

Class/Year : Lower 6/2010

Question : How National Service helps to promote racial integration?

The National Service programme is a new programme that created for group

of teenagers who already completed their school after Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia also

known as SPM’s examination. The National Service also is not a military conscription

programme but it is a government programme that allows teenagers to have a

knowledgeable experience. As a person who has been choose to participate this

programme, he or she should be grateful and feel proud because he or she got a

chance to join National Service for 3 months. This programme brings invaluable

benefits to the country, families and individuals because it is a good form of training

to promote racial integration. In addition, in this programme organizes the activities

such as community services, exercise in group and event for Independence Day which

would be able for youths to live and work together as a team regardless of race or

creed.

One way that national service can help to promote racial integration is by

organizing community services. By participating in this training program, the

teenagers will be exposed to community services such as gotong-royong activity, do

voluntary work in charity organizations and others that require every race to take part

in each activity. In each activity, teenagers will be ordered to clean drains and bushes,

painting buildings, burning garbage and others without any complain. Therefore, they

will learn the spirit of cooperation and helping each other as well as can reduce the

selfishness attitude that is embedded in every teens. As a matter of fact, community

service that organised by national service can be the best way to inculcate the racial

integration that should exist in every youth to build a unity community even though

there are people of different races and religions.

Besides, exercise in group will enable the form of racial integration. In

national service, the teenagers will divide in group when they want to do activity like

cultural night event. In this event, each group can plan for implementing cultural

values and heritage to present in front of their friends. As we know, Malaysia is rich

with various races such as Malays, Chinese, Indian, Sikh and many more. The

exercise that given by their instructor, national service members can apply their own

culture in terms of food, traditional clothes and others to share with another different

nation. For example, many non-Malay women wear traditional Malay baju kurung in

the cultural night event. Furthermore, Indian foods like roti canai, chapatti, muruku

become a favourite of other communities. Indeed, what we can conclude here is

exercise in group like held a cultural night event in national service programme can

generate respect between each other as well as help to promote racial integration in

our country.

Finally, national service helps to promote racial integration by held an event

for Independence Day. Each year on 31 August, the government will provide

opportunities to teenagers who participate in national service to celebrate the

anniversary of Malaysia’s Independence Day with festive events. They are flying the

flag of Malaysia also known as Jalur Gemilang, marching activities, joining

traditional dance performances and many more. Hence, by joining these activities,

they will help teens to express their interaction and communication skill with each

other in order to prove the unity spirit during enjoying the events when Independence

Day was held. Consequently, a lively celebration of Independence Day in our country

is one way to provide an opportunity and space to national service communities to

strengthen the racial integration among them.

As a conclusion, the national service is a programme that should be supported

by the most of the citizens of our country because it shows the racial integration

aspect for each race in Malaysia. Like other progressive country such as Korea,

Singapore and China, the national service programmes are well-received. Hopefully,

Malaysians should adopt the same attitude because the teenagers act as priceless

assets for being the leaders of future to steer Malaysia, a country that rich with multi-

racial people as it aims to be a develop nation by the year 2020.