The venue: The pilot batch will be housed at Kem Wataniah 515 in Kuala Lumpur. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
PETALING JAYA: The pilot batch of the National Service (PLKN) 3.0, consisting of 142 trainees, will register for training at an army camp in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow.
The first batch will consist of 98 males and 44 females between the ages of 18 and 25 who volunteered for PKLN 3.0 for this trial period.
“The trainees are from 13 states, with the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur having the most number of participants at 28 while only one is from Sarawak.
“There will be 32 trainers and this preliminary batch will be monitored to assess the whole programme to ensure that when PLKN 3.0 starts, all will be in order.
“This batch will be housed at Kem Wataniah 515 in Kuala Lumpur. This is more of a pre-PLKN camp as these trainees are volunteers and we are still in the testing period.
“All 142 trainees are expected to register at the camp tomorrow,” said the Defence Ministry when contacted.
PLKN 3.0 will adhere to the National Service Training Act (NSA) 2003.
It further said that this 45-day camp will comprise 70% military modules and 30% civic modules.
“The military training component aims to instil discipline, physical resilience and basic defence capability knowledge among participants, ensuring a foundational understanding of national security readiness.
“The civic modules intend to strengthen national identity and foster a deeper understanding of Malaysia’s constitutional framework, multicultural heritage and civic responsibilities,” said the ministry.
On Nov 13 last year, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin stated that after the pilot batch had completed their training, an assessment and rectifications would be made where necessary.
PLKN 3.0 will then go full-fledged with four intakes of recruitments annually.
“Unlike its predecessors, which operated exclusively in private PLKN camps, PLKN 3.0 utilises a diverse range of government-based facilities including 13 army territorial camps, 20 public universities, 27 teacher training institutes and various polytechnics.
“The aim is to train more than 194,300 participants, with 25,000 trainees distributed across 13 army territorial camps through four intakes of recruitment series annually.
“There will be 31,872 uniformed students and 61,344 non-uniformed students from 20 public universities.
“Further participation includes 92,000 students from 33 polytechnics, 6,000 students from 27 teacher training institutes and 10,000 students from general skills training institutes and industrial training institutes.
“This shift not only provides better infrastructure but also creates a more formal and better professional training environment,” Mohamed Khaled had said.
PLKN 3.0 will be managed by the National Service Programme Department (JLKN) and various other government agencies, unlike the previous PLKN camps which were handled solely by JLKN.
For the basic training and specialised training phases, eligible national trainees must be at least 18 years of age and registered in the national database with a Malaysian identity card; both locally born and overseas-born Malaysian citizens.
Selected national trainees will be informed through official mail sent to their registered address or they can check on the website or SMS.
The first PLKN was held in 2004. It was then suspended in 2015, before it was continued in parts with the planning to revive it completely in 2019.
However, in 2018, the programme was completely abolished by the then Pakatan Harapan government.
