Doing their best: Determined NS trainees from an earlier programme giving it their all to accomplish the task assigned. — File photograph
GEORGE TOWN: The National Service Training Programme (PLKN) can only achieve its goal of fostering unity among youths with the right modules and action plans, say parents.
Taxi driver Ahmad Iswadi Arshad, 45, said the programme must also include safety precautions and ensure gender segregation in every camp in the country.
“Nowadays, we can see that our youths are polarised, and they only mix with their friends from the same race.
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“If PLKN is reintroduced, this can help end this practice and pave the way for them to mingle with everyone regardless of race and religion,” he said.
Ahmad Iswadi, who has a son now in Form Four, hopes the programme will also help the students understand and appreciate the cultures and traditions of others during the training.
Network and system engineer Amir Osman Mohd Ibrahim, 46, hoped the revived PLKN would be similar to national service programmes in Singapore.
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“The programme in Singapore is a success story. Such programmes can make our youths more disciplined and instil nation-building,” he said.
Amir Osman said as a parent with children in secondary school, he feels that a flawless training programme would mould the children into better people.
His son, Muhammad Aniq Hashimi, 16, said he is ready to participate in the programme once it has been revived.
“I am ready for the challenges. If it is good for me, I would go for it,” he said.
Businessman Jasper Ooi, 36, however, has a different opinion, saying that it was not the right time to bring it back.
“I agree the programme is good for unity, but the timing is wrong, especially when our economy is bad.
“The cost of holding the PLKN could be better used to help the B40 group or improve our education sector,” he said.
The PLKN was introduced in 2004, involving the random selection of youths aged 18 for a compulsory three-month programme.
It was halted in 2015 and reintroduced the following year with participation to be made optional by 2019.
However, it was scrapped in August 2018.
In 2021, the previous administration agreed that the defence minister would set up a special committee to study the possibility of reviving the programme with a new template.
On Monday in Dewan Rakyat, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said a revived programme would see youths undergo basic army training for 45 days.
Mohamad said the revived programme would be geared more towards providing youths with army training.
Under the proposal, he said, training would be in the second phase of the programme and involve those who have completed their SPM examination.
