Replace National Service Plan With Unity Camps For All 18 Year Olds

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No one in their right mind would oppose a noble programme which aims to instil love for the nation.
In the same vein, no minister should ignore calls from so many quarters to review the revamped national service training programme (PLKN) to be rolled out from next month.
Do the nation a favour and listen to what others have to say.
More than 60 countries in the world have national service training in various forms, including Singapore. In most of these nations, 18-year-olds must go through a full military course for between six months to two years.
Many call it a conscription programme where they are placed on a reserve list and can be called up in case of war and other emergencies. They undergo complete military training which includes major weapons training and other rigorous forms of training to turn them into full-fledged soldiers.
That is why these programmes are called national service training, unlike the three-month PLKN from 2003 to 2018. It was halted for one year in 2015 due to the federal government’s efforts to cut spending, and reintroduced in 2016.
PLKN version 3.0 is scheduled to start in the middle of next month as a pilot project before eventually becoming a 45-day programme. It is expected to cost RM50 million in the first year.
Not much value
The previous courses had cost the government between RM400 million to RM500 million annually. Yes, it was costly indeed. But what was the return on investment?
Not much, as some participants admitted. Plagued with management issues from the start, it was impossible for participants to be given proper military training.
About 85,000 to 100,000 youths a year were involved, or about 25% of those turning 18 in the year of training.
Many wondered what the whole purpose of this programme was when not all those in the age group were enrolled.
I have been talking to many who went through PLKN, and it seems that most of them did not learn much from it. Apparently, most are also not in touch with their batch mates after finishing the programme.
Of course, a handful became tougher individuals but, honestly, you don’t need an expensive programme like PLKN to achieve this.
Many setbacks
There were many other setbacks too – 22 trainees died due to various reasons such as drowning, assault and exhaustion. There were also incidents of sexual assault and racial clashes among trainees. These are all well documented.
PLKN began as a way to encourage friendship between youths from different ethnic groups and address concerns that the country’s multi-ethnic and multi-cultural groups were becoming increasingly isolated.
Obviously, this objective was not met, as we all know it was during this period that inter-ethnic relations worsened because of our divisive politics.
And of course, the fact that only 25% in the age group are made to attend PLKN shows its inadequate to completely revamp the mindset of our youths.
Last week, a parliamentary special select committee asked the government to review its plan to bring back PLKN. Committee chairman Saifuddin Abdullah said PLKN lacked clear objectives and targets, a legacy issue stemming from the unclear objectives of the very first programme.
Saifuddin, who was in the Pakatan Harapan government which scrapped PLKN 2.0, said its goals and modules should be based on military or semi-military training.
However, he said there was a serious need to ask if the country really needed such a programme. Many seem to agree with this view.
Living with each other
I will be the first to admit that the nation sorely needs a special programme for the 18-year-olds to learn how to mix and improve race relations before they enter institutions of higher learning, and enter the job market after that.
Our education system, as most of us know, has indeed failed to forge unity and harmony among the various communities. Among other reasons, the absolute freedom of choice to opt for vernacular, national, Islamic or private school education has contributed to the divide.
So perhaps a good option is to hold compulsory unity camps for all school-leavers for a month or so, to teach them the basics of accepting each other’s ways of life, whether in terms of culture or religion.
Such a unity camp must be for all or none. PLKN 3.0 will not achieve much in terms of its objectives. The government could actually be flogging a dead horse. - FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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