No revival of National Service programme for Malaysia in 2024, says defence minister

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s National Service Training Programme (PLKN) will not be implemented in 2024, said Defence Minister Mohamad Hasan.

He said this was due to no allocations being made for the training programme in Malaysia’s Budget 2024.

“If we want to use army camps for this, we need to upgrade all the camps in a one-off manner. There are 13 camps nationwide,” he said during his winding-up speech for Budget 2024 on Nov 23.

“The ministry will study the implementation mechanism together with all stakeholders, before it is finalised and implemented.

“PLKN may only begin in 2025.”

Datuk Seri Mohamad said the Cabinet had granted approval for the Defence Ministry to conduct more studies on PLKN, adding that it was currently in the study phase.

“We studied many options. Suggestions by MPs to cooperate with non-governmental organisations will be considered before the paper is presented to the Cabinet for further approval.

“The probability of it starting in 2024, however, is close to none as there is no budget,” he said.

On Oct 31,

Mr Mohamad announced the revival of the programme,

PLKN 3.0, targeting young people who have completed their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, or SPM, examination – equivalent to the O levels in Singapore.

The public, however, raised concerns on social media platforms after the ministry said the programme would target those between 16 and 35.

The ministry later clarified that only those born in 2007 will be called for PLKN if it is to be implemented by 2024, explaining that the trainees would be selected based on the year of their birth, adding that the maximum age limit to become a trainee is 35.

PLKN was introduced in 2004 involving the random selection of 18-year-olds for a compulsory three-month programme. It was halted in 2015 and reintroduced the next year with plans to make participation optional by 2019.

However, the programme was scrapped in August 2018.

In 2021, the government agreed that the defence minister would set up a special committee to study the possibility of reviving the programme with a new template. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK