PETALING JAYA: Defence minister Mohamad Hasan has revealed that the revived national service training programme (PLKN) being formulated by the government could end up costing less than RM100 million per year.
He said a special committee formed to look at how to bring back the PLKN, was considering splitting the programme into two phases – first while the students are still in school, and the second, after the SPM examination.
Mohamad added that phase two of the programme could be implemented at 13 reserve camps (kem wataniah) nationwide and one police training camp (Pulapol), saying this plan was more “ideal” and could accommodate 25,000 trainees per session.
The trainers for phase two could also be made up of those from the military and the police force, and the duration for the training would also be cut down from three months to 45 days for each session.
“Previously, we would spend about RM500 million per year (to implement the programme). Now, based on the working paper by the special committee, we would not be spending more than RM100 million a year. This is a big savings,” he told the Dewan Rakyat.
He said phase two of the programme would focus predominantly on military training. Phase one, on the other hand, would focus on teaching nationalism through the revamping of the uniformed unit co-curriculum in secondary schools.
He was responding to Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh (PH-Ledang), who asked if the government was considering proposals to reintroduce PLKN as an initiative under the defence ministry.
Mohamad, or better known as Tok Mat, said that when the full report from the special committee is ready at the ministry-level, it would be referred to the national security council (MKN) for approval.
He also welcomed a proposal from Khlir Nor (PN-Ketereh) to employ army veterans as trainers for the programme, as many were unemployed post-retirement.
Last week, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok was reported to have said in a statement that the government must look into the financial and module aspects of the PLKN before reviving it.
