KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 — The National Service programme was an indictment of the government’s ineffectual policies to unite students of different races, the Former Elected Representatives Council (Mubarak) said today.

Mubarak president Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Rahman also criticised the programme as being of no benefit.

“PLKN exists because they (government) realised, maybe, that our education system is unable to produce students with high racial tolerance,” he said, referring to the Malay acronym for the programme.

“This may be a manifestation of failure to strengthen unity through our education system. Otherwise, we would not need PLKN if schools can produce students with strong unity spirit [sic].”

He said this in a press conference after holding a roundtable discussion with academics and students leaders on racial tolerance and patriotism.

The National Service programme was introduced in 2003 to encourage closer ties between the various ethnic communities and mandatory for selected school-leavers.

The programme was suspended last year due to budget cuts, but Putrajaya said it will be reintroduced following a revamp.