TELEVISION producer Tony Yew, 39, would not worry too much about his children being selected to take part in Malaysia's National Service programme.

"I will just refuse to send my kids to NS. Have they arrested anyone for not sending his child? I don't believe they have," he told my paper.

Mr Yew, a father to three girls aged 8, 7 and 4, said what worried him is not the death rate at NS camps, where 16 trainees have died in the last four years.

"I just don't believe you can achieve national unity in three months. And that's what the government is saying that the NS will do," he said.

Mr Yew is part of a group of concerned parents who are planning to mount a "Say No to NS" campaign soon.

The initiative is being coordinated by Mr Bernard Khoo, who used to teach at Singapore's St Patrick's School in the early 1960s.

With the help of prominent lawyers and the backing of opposition parties, these parents hope the campaign can persuade Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, who is also Defence Minister, to put an end to the programme.

"We want the NS to stop and the camps shut. We are telling the government: Don't even try to repackage it," says Mr Khoo, 67, who still coaches young kids in soccer for free in his spare time.

Mr Khoo said a forum is being planned to kick off the campaign. As coordinator of the campaign, he is trying get parents of the 16 kids who have died to come forward and join the initiative.

In Parliament, the opposition is doing its bit to end the NS programme, which will help them score major political points.

"How many more kids must die before we stop the programme?"

Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan (Democratic Action Party), asked Datuk Seri Najib in Parliament on Wednesday during his winding-up address.

Datuk Seri Najib went on record to say that the number of deaths represents "a small percentage" of the 339,186 youths who have undergone NS training.

He also explained that two-thirds of the cases took place outside the camps, and that all 16 were health-related. Of the 16, 11 of them had died during training.

As a solution, the government will make it mandatory for trainees to undergo a thorough medical check-up.

NS was introduced in 2004 with the main aim of forging national unity among the races in Malaysia.

Unlike NS in Singapore, which is mandatory, Malaysia picks its trainees at random.

The NS programme lasts three months, compared to Singapore's 30-month training.

Another distinction: Malaysia's NS is based on a need to foster national unity; Singapore's NS is conceived on a need to strengthen its own security and defence needs.

A matter of great contention among parents: The belief that children of leaders from the elite ruling Barisan Nasional party and powerful corporate leaders and civil servants are being exempted from this "random" selection process.

"I've told my MP to ask the question in Parliament," said housewife Liana Mukhtar, 39.

"How many ministers' children have taken part in the NS programme? We know the answer already, but we need to hear it."

The government is not expected to give too much attention to the upcoming anti-NS campaign as there have been a great many testimonies of how good the programme is.

Ms Janis Seet, a part-time law student from Kuala Lumpur, told my paper NS gave her "some of the best times of her life".

Now 22, she does not see the Singapore model as better. She said: "I was part of the second batch and we were sent to places in Kedah I never knew existed. I had a great time.

"The Singapore NS is military, discipline, regiment. Ours is more like Outward Bound School. Like a holiday."