KUALA LUMPUR – The pre-National Service Training Programme (PLKN 3.0) session will be introduced to Form 4 students during their co-curricular sessions June and July next year onwards, said Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin (Kota Tinggi-BN).
This, he said, serves to prepare the students to undergo national service when they turn 17 the following year.
He told Dewan Rakyat that those students will undergo the actual PLKN programme – when they are 17 or older – where 30% of it will be on nation-building and 70% on basic military training.
Khaled added that the training for the second phase will be held at 13 Wataniah camps nationwide, in 20 public universities, and several polytechnics for 45 days, which will begin in April 2026.
The pre-training will start in June and July 2025, involving two Wataniah camps and about 1,000 participants, he said in response to Zahari Kechik (Jeli-PN), who asked about the PLKN training.
The minister also promised that the weakness of the previous national service will not be repeated, following a supplementary question by Datuk Mohd Isam Mohd Isa (Tampin-BN), who asked about safety measures to prevent sexual harassment towards the trainees.
Khaled added that it has been proposed that trainees should be segregated by gender in the camps.
The PLKN was first introduced in December 2003, featuring three-month physical, patriotic, character-building, and community service modules. Every year, 85,000 to 95,000 participants join, with an annual cost of about RM600 million.
It ceased in 2015 to save costs and resumed in 2016 as PLKN 2.0 with around 20,000 trainees per year. However, it was abolished in August 2018.
However, PLKN 3.0 aims to prepare trained youths with strong character and a deep love for their country, which will equip them for future employment in crucial government agencies such as the Royal Malaysia Police, the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department, and the Civil Defence Force. – July 10, 2024