Our security forces - police, navy, Air force and military have a sacrosanct duty to King and nation. These our uniformed men and women are our trusted defence - the very patriotic citizens who place the safety and sovereignity of beloved Malaysia even above their own lives.

They are the sole reason why Malaysia remains till this date of sixty five years after independence as a free, safe and sovereign nation. To these men and women who put duty to nation, king and citizens above all else - even their own safety and family, how can we then even toy with the idea of asking them to plant vegetables just to help themselves tide over the prevailing food security and supply chain constipation?

Is it not demeaning? Such thoughts are not novel but disgraceful. Not only do we make our security personnel beg for a meaningful, reasonable and fair remuneration and pensioned pay revision, now we are in simple words telling them, "Go plant your own food subsistence to stay alive"!

Something is seriously wrong and mutilated in the thinking and the actions that follow from among those carrying the mantle of decision making. We have an overstaffed civil service. We have inmates overflowing in our limited prisons. We have an ever increasing population being cared for in the numerous drug rehabilitation centres. We have thousands of Mat Rempits and Basikal Lajak youths not only wasting their energies but also gleefully breaking the laws and with no avenues to channel their youthful adrenalin.

We have tens of thousands of illegal and undocumented migrants languishing in the much to be desired detention camps, disabled from putting their muscles into productive engagements and being fed by tax payers. We have thousands of citizens - especially the young adults, losing jobs and desperately eking out a living doing menial jobs to put food on the table.

And don't forget we have an uncountable number of citizens thriving like parasites on the gravy train of contracts, engaged in lobbying, seeking out lucrative business deals and even as mere middlemen on the vines of corruption laced deals.

Yet our leaders cannot come up with a comprehensive and structural plan to engage a crisis response to the nation's hardships. All they can think of and merrily announce is to ask our security personnel to go farm their own vegetable, fruit and poultry supplies to help ease the problem.

If this is the way we want to treat the very men and women who are prepared to die for the country, then we must admit that we have pawned the very dignity, honour and nobility of the meaning of patriotism.

Civil society leaders, religious congregational heads, professional associations and guilds - in fact every loyal citizen must condemn this move to make our security personnel into farmers, even if it is claimed as only a part time engagement.

Their job is to defend our nation. Their duty is to protect our citizens. Their vocation is national security. It is therefore the obligation of the rest of the citizenry to provide well for the needs of our security forces - even well into their retirement.

Anything less or anything else is an insult to the entire nation.