I refer to the letter Impossible to have 'zero death' for NS . After reading this letter, I felt it was very unfair if I put myself in the shoes of the parents of the deceased NS trainee.

First, the writer commented that Pakatan Rakyat is politicising the incident without any real benefits to the rakyat . He forgets that NS is a government project and the only way we can voice our complaint is through the opposition parties. That is the only way to 'shake' them up or wake them up - to tell them not to be complacent, to not take a lackadaisical attitude towards their responsibility or take things for granted. This is the only channel of complaint that they will be cognitive of otherwise it will be just fall on deaf ears.

The writer perceived the latest death of an NS trainee as nothing but a natural occurrence but coincidentally and unfortunately, it happened in the NS training camp. He says it could have happened anywhere, any place. The symptoms she suffered from also made it difficult for the sickness to be diagnosed earlier, he claims. So, the fact here is that no one is to be blamed and it is just pure unlucky so to speak? So forget about blaming anyone let alone the government or the NS camp, right ?

The writers just fails to understand one important issue here and that is responsibility. I wonder what would be his reaction if it was his daughter who was enlisted in the training and came out suffering physical disablement? Would that be another bad coincidence or an act of God to him? That it was bad luck it happened and that it could have happened to anyone and no one could have prevented it? An accident is an accident and there is no explanation for it? (I’m sorry I have to put the example this way).

We all know mishaps or accidents do happen. One must understand how accidents or mishaps happens. If one studies how accidents happen, one would come to the conclusion that they do not happen just like that or on the spur of moment or are caused of by just one factor. Accidents always happen due to a combination of factors that have' been ignored and allowed to propagate further leading to an accident. It is always the negligence and ignorance of one incident that leads to another making it become 'unavoidable'. If we reduce the chances, then the accident will not likely to occur.

The writer accepts that death is a normal thing in the NS camps based on his percentage ratio and rationale of ‘impossible to have a 'zero death ' concept’. So does he mean that all we parents have to pray hard that these unfortunate deaths should not be of our children but somebody else’s when they undergo NS training ? I really cannot understand such a rationale coming from a doctor.

Bear in mind the NS programme is only for youth training and not for any professional reason. We have yet to see the outcome of this training so far. But from the business point of view definitely I can see who benefits.

That the NS programme is to forge better unity among other races is a fallacy to me. Unity among the races can only forged when each and everyone is treated fairly and the economic cake equally shared out.

If I were the parents of the deceased NS trainee and if I had read the above letter, I would have felt very hurt, disgusted and provoked. Nothing in this world can bring their daughter back but what they seek now is fair justice. First, they did not voluntary send their daughter to this NS training and it was a government order .

What responsibility has the government displayed so far ? (Strangely, I did not see Lee Lam Thye crying in public this time). I strongly agree and am happy to see that their parents are suing the government. I know it is like suing the CIA or KGB. It is not an easy task and let’s hope the newly reformed judiciary is really a people's judiciary.

How she died and what really happened is right of the parents to know - the truth and nothing but the truth. An independent investigation without fear or favour should be carried out and the findings be made known to the public. We are dealing with young people and our future leaders and we simply could not afford to take things for granted or assume things. Care and responsibility must be our top priorities.

For all the parents who have lost their children in this NS programme (I can only feel very sorry for them), has the truth surrounding the children’s deaths been made known to them? Have they been paid compensation? Have they been given justice?

Otherwise they will always be living in a world with painful memories plus their own guilt for allowing them to join the NS programme when they could have stopped them. Put yourself in the shoes of these parents.

In fact, we should banging the table of the NS authorities and politicians demanding for answers. Not like what I have interpreted or construed from the above letter ‘Well ... it does happen ... what to do ... let’s move on as death is a daily event’.

At this juncture, I wonder what would have happened if this kind of negligence had happened in let’s say, America?