Outside jobs for soldiers may help

LETTER | I refer to the Malaysiakini report Gamuda founder under fire for comments against armed forces.

While Koon Yew Yin's remarks that many army personnel actually do very little on a daily basis has drawn the expected ire, the context in which he said it is worth exploring.

 on being demobilised is finding relevant work given their limited exposure and age.

Koon's suggestion that the rank and file also have other outside duties while in service, therefore, has merit in this context.

The Engineering Corps, for example, can have commissions from the JKR to do public works.

Similarly, guard duties at ministries can be outsourced.

If properly thought out, the army personnel could have many roles (within the government) to keep them better occupied and "future relevant".

Of course, only a portion should be given such other duties while a significant portion should remain as the standing army.

This should in no way reduce the effectiveness of the army as all personnel could still be mobilised at short notice.

Further, as such "dual role" army personnel would be in different areas, they could be additional eyes and ears for intelligence.

Let us not look at Koon's remarks as criticisms but as a suggestion to improve army life while reducing foreign labour and other security risks.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.