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Malaysian National Service

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The Malaysian National Service, or Program Latihan Khidmat Negara (PLKN) was first proposed in late 2001, brought to committee the next year, and finally brought to action in 2003. Initially it was thought that all youth of a certain age would be drafted but later the numbers were restricted due to lack of resources. The issue of conscription has always been a sensitive political issue in Malaysia because of the ethnic divisions of the country. The rationale for National Service was to bond the youth of Malaysia together and create a Malaysian nation, as the problem of racial polarisation was found to pervade educational institutions in Malaysia.

Contents

[edit] Background to the ethnic problem of Malaya

Under British colonial rule the ethnic Malay population was encouraged to concentrate on subsistence agriculture, serving in the military, or working as civil servants. Ethnic Chinese were already present in what is now Malaysia and usually worked in the commercial sector. More Chinese were brought in to work on the rubber plantations and in the tin mines. When Chinese were found to be unsuitable for this sort of indentured labor, and unwilling to work under close supervision, they were replaced by Indians. Malaysia still retains a degree of separation in the economy. Malays still dominate the government and the security forces such as the army and police force. The Chinese are mainly focused in the private sector. Non-Muslim Indians remain the poorest section of Malaysian society. This has had an impact on the issue of National Service. Some ethnic Malays have not felt they can trust the other communities. Many people from the other communities are reluctant to serve in a Malay-dominated institution like the government bureaucracy, defence force and the police force.

[edit] Objectives of the NSP

  • Develop a young generation who are patriotic and with love for their country
  • Enhance unity among the multi-racial communities in the country
  • Instill a spirit of caring and volunteerism among society
  • Produce an active, intelligent and confident generation
  • Develop positive characteristics among the younger generation through good values

[edit] The National Service program

In late December 2003, the names of 85,000 conscripts for the first National Service program was made public. The government announced that these youths were randomly selected out of the roughly 450,000 youths born in 1986, through a computerised process.

The program has its own theme song and logo. Conscripts are issued two pairs each of three different types of uniforms: a class uniform, a sports uniform, and a combat uniform. The combat uniform's design is of blue camouflage stripes, made out of light blue, dark blue, white, and black. The general color scheme for the class and sports uniforms is blue, and black.

The program is split into 4 modules:

  • Physical Module - Marching, hand to hand combat, Obstacle courses, jungle trekking, survival training and first aid training
  • Nation Building Module (Kenegaraan) - Classroom based. Nation's history, sovereignty and dignity, Malaysia and international affairs, Defence and National Security and Citizen's responsibility to the nation
  • Character Building Module (Pembinaan Karakter) - Classroom based. It comprise 2 modules. The first one, Module A speaks about Bringing Out The Best In Me while the second module, Module B, relates to Bringing Out The Best In Others. This component is experential based and relies on games and activities as the means of teaching. It is about instilling good values and Self-confidence, leadership and self-evaluation.
  • Community Service Module (Khidmat Komuniti)- Trainees are sent in groups to places in surrounding areas to give the trainees a chance to serve society. This is about building and restoring public amenities. It also teaches them environmental restoration and protection as well.

In the 2004 program, conscripts (referred to as "trainees" or "Wira" for boys and "Wirawati" for girls) spent a month in physical training camp, followed by two months at a nearby university or sports complex. The program consisted of three separate, overlapping batches. The first batch of 24,000 began in February and ended in May, while the second and third batches began in March and ended in June. Trainees were divided among 42 training camps scattered all over the country. Each camp was supposed to contain a good mix of youth from different ethnic groups and locations.

[edit] List of National Service Training Camps

There are many National Service training camps in every state in Malaysia except the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya

[edit] Perlis

[edit] Kedah

[edit] Penang

[edit] Perak

[edit] Selangor

[edit] Negeri Sembilan

[edit] Melaka

[edit] Johor

[edit] Pahang

[edit] Kelantan

[edit] Terengganu

  • Merang Suria Holiday Camp, Setiu
  • Kem Peladang Setiu Agro Resort, Setiu
  • Cheneh Cemerlang Training Camp, Kemaman
  • Bakau Resort Camp, Kerteh

[edit] Sabah

[edit] Sarawak

[edit] Future directions

In 2005 program, 85,000 people will be selected out of the country's 471,000 youths born in 1987. They will be placed in 71 training camps, in three different batches. Each batch will undergo three months of training. However, the 2005 batches will not overlap, as with the previous year's. Instead, the three batches will span a total of nine months. Training of the first batch started on 13 December 2004 and will end at 6 March 2004. There were delays for trainees from the East Coast due to severe flooding in the region.

The 2005 session will be exclusively held in camps, since all of the universities involved suffered losses due to trainee vandalism. After the lessons learnt in 2004, security will be tightened. Stricter rules are to be enforced too. The canvas tents of 2004 will be replaced with brick walled barracks.

The list of the conscripts for the 2005 program is expected to be released on 28 August 2004.

A well-known insider account of daily life in Malaysian National Service is the livejournal entries Operating Instructions by Kim.

The program is run by Jabatan Latihan Khidmat Negara (JLKN) or National Service Department, a department under the Malaysian Ministry of Defence.

[edit] Problems with the Scheme

Despite progress towards ethnic harmony made in Malaysia in recent times it is clear that there are still problems. After the 2004 pilot batch completed their National Service, the youth wing of the MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association, Malaysia's largest ethnic Chinese party), on behalf of themselves and 8 other Chinese-based youth organizations, issued a memorandum to the National Service Training Council calling for more non-Malay trainers. They also criticised the lack of counsellors, imbalanced diet for the participants, poor communications among the various secretariats and no code of conduct for camp commandants or directors, trainers, facilitators and supervisors. Despite this somewhat diplomatic language it is clear that there is a problem with bullying by Malay NCOs and Officers, a lack of cultural sensitivity by the organizers, and a reluctance to provide a proper diet for the mainly Buddhist Chinese Malaysians and Hindu Indian Malaysians.

Other main controversy issues of Malaysian National Service include the selection system where the government computer database system picks up the trainees randomly without even knowing about their social status. Some cases include poor teenagers who need to work for their living and young mothers with newborn babies who were selected for the program, which are considered as inhumane.

In 2005, concerns were raised in Parliament that youth were being taught to use firearms, namely M-16 rifles, in National Service. Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Razak, stated that this was merely a pilot project. However, Democratic Action Party Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Batu Gajah, Perak, claimed that the Parliamentary Select Committee on Unity and National Service had not been informed of the project.

[edit] References

[edit] External links


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Conscription in Asia

Afghanistan • Armenia • Azerbaijan • Bahrain • Bangladesh • Bhutan • Brunei • Cambodia • China (People's Republic of China (Hong Kong • Macau) • Republic of China (Taiwan)) • Cyprus • East Timor • Georgia • India • Indonesia • Iran • Iraq • Israel (See also Palestinian territories) • Japan • Jordan • Kazakhstan • Korea (North Korea • South Korea) • Kuwait • Kyrgyzstan • Laos • Lebanon • Malaysia • Maldives • Mongolia • Myanmar • Nepal • Oman • Pakistan • Philippines • Qatar • Russia • Saudi Arabia • Singapore • Sri Lanka • Syria • Tajikistan • Thailand • Turkey • Turkmenistan • United Arab Emirates • Uzbekistan • Vietnam • Yemen

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