program, 100,000 people were selected out of the country's youths born in 1989. They were be placed in 79 training camps, in three different batches. Each batch underwent three months of training. However, the 2007 batches did not overlap, as with the previous year's. Instead, the three batches spanned a total of nine months. Training of the first batch started on 1 January 2007 and endem at 11 March 2007. There were delays for trainees from the East Coast due to severe flooding in the region. Including 2008, a total of 339,186 youths have been assigned to National Service since beginning in 2004. The program was run by Jabatan Latihan Khidmat Negara (JLKN) or National Service Department, a department under the Malaysian Ministry of Defence. Criticism Despite progress towards ethnic harmony made in Malaysia in recent times it is clear that there are still problems. Outside the Human Rights Charter Contraventions, other problems are also as follows: After the 2004 pilot batch completed its National Service, the youth wing of the Malaysian Chinese Association, Malaysia's largest ethnic Chinese party), on behalf of themselves and 8 other Chinese-based youth organisations, issued a memorandum to the National Service Training Council calling for more non-Malay trainers. They also criticised the lack of counsellors, imbalanced diet for the participants, poor communication among the various secretariats and no code of conduct for camp commandants or directors, trainers, facilitators and supervisors. Other main controversy issues of Malaysian National Service include the selection system where the government computer database system picks up the trainees randomly without even knowing about their social status. Some cases include poor teenagers who need to work for their living and young mothers with newborn babies who were selected for the program, which are considered as inhumane. However, selected trainees with extraneous circumstances can send a letter of appeal to be exempted from the training, which will usually be approved. In 2005, concerns were raised in Parliament that youth were being taught to use firearms, namely M16 rifles, in National Service. Then Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Razak, stated that this was merely a pilot project. However, a Democratic Action Party Member of Parliament (MP) claimed that the Parliamentary Select Committee on Unity and National Service had not been informed of the project. The firearms module is now a module of the program. Trainees are required to submit a health status declaration form but