MALAYSIA: The country’s Deputy Defence Minister, Adly Zahari, announced over the weekend that from January 2025, the National Service Training Programme (PLKN) 3.0 will begin implementation in stages.
“For next year, the government has allocated RM50 million (S$15.17 million) for us to start PLKN 3.0,” he said. The programme had been set to begin in mid-2025. However, Mr Adly noted that it needs to begin earlier.
It will start at two military camps. One will be in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, and the other in Pahang.
The programme will eventually be expanded to 13 additional camps across the country when full implementation takes effect in 2026.
The initial implementation of the first intake, involving 500 participants, is to pioneer PLKN 3.0 before launching on a larger level with more participants in June.
Mr Adly made these remarks to media members on Oct 26 at the state-level Jiwa Murni Project (PJM) launch in Hutan Percha.
Third Division army commander Major General Datuk Zahari Mohd Ariffin was also present at the launch, The New Straits Times noted.
The programme will involve participants aged between 16 and 35, who will be learning a number of learning modules.
They will be chosen among pupils in Form Four, Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) leavers, and students from institutions of higher learning.
“We will use existing camps, and they are currently being refurbished. However, for the first intake, we will only be using two camps.
By 2026, all 13 camps will be fully utilized to accommodate participants after the full implementation of the programme,” said Mr Adly.
Malaysia’s national service
The PLKN is known locally as Khidmat Negara. The programme, which began in December 2003, lasted three months and had been designed for 18-year-olds.
One of its goals was to foster friendships between youths from the country’s various races and ethnic groups. Due to the government’s spending cuts, the program stopped in 2015.
However, PLN 2.0 was introduced the following year, and joining the programme was meant to become completely optional by 2019.
In 2018, it was announced by then Minister of Youth and Sports, Syed Saddiq bin Syed Abdul Rahman, that the PLKN was among the programs set to be abolished immediately over concerns of misguided indoctrination.
Mohamad Hasan, who served as Malaysia’s Defense Minister from December 2022 to December 2023, announced on Oct 9, 2023, the revival of the country’s national service program. /TISG
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