Ahmad Hafizal Ahmad Fauzi, 18, of Kampung Titi Serong, Perlis was fined RM600 or two weeks jail for having failed to turn up for his national service stint, the first youth of 6,000 NS shirkers to be penalised since the programme's launch.

Ahmad had not sought a deferment or exemption. As a result he had committed an offence under Section 18(1) of the National Service Act 2003, which provides for a fine of up to RM3,000 or a jail term of up to six months, or both upon conviction.

There are no other alternatives, like a reprimand or a sentence to do community service. Ahmad was unrepresented and chose to plead guilty. Pleading for a light sentence, Ahmad said that he had to work to support his single mother, an assistant at a nursery, and three siblings.

Ahmad spent one night in jail as he couldn't afford to pay the fine. He was released after the Perlis Menteri Besar's office arranged for the fine to be paid.

Which brings to mind the question of what would have happened to him if his fine wasn't paid. Are we really living in a caring society? Are our lawmakers who formulated the national service and who provided the penalties for the shirkers caring lawmakers?

Will this punishment meted out to Ahmad and other NS shirkers turn them into better and more patriotic youths?

Acting early to track these dodgers would have given the government a chance to find out why there were so many shirkers and the reasons why. But I guess the government was not really interested and felt that threats of the RM3,000 fine and imprisonment were good enough.

Some of these shirkers may have good, though not valid reasons for not reporting for training. I feel that a good number of them may not be those who have just left school recently. They would probably have left school earlier (for various reasons) and may actually be by now working, running businesses of their own, gotten married and may even be parents already.

Stopping what they are presently doing and reporting for three months of national service training may prove disastrous for them. Is the government interested in looking into their problems?

Is the government concerned regarding the hardship they will face if they report for training? Punishing them for dodging national service training would only cause double jeopardy. Or is the government only interested in saying 'Disobey me and you will suffer'.

Is the government really interested in promoting a caring society? Are we living in a caring society? So many unanswered questions.