GUESS who were the happiest people in Malaysia last week? And they still are, when Senior Minister (Defence) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri announced his ministry would present a proposal to the Cabinet to reintroduce the National Service Training Programme (PLKN).
These are the operators of training camps spread in various parts of the country, the food caterers and other contractors in the supply chain during the three-month programme in which some 100,000 Form 5 students underwent training to instill patriotism and loyalty to the nation.
It’s a well-known fact that many of the operators and contractors became millionaires.
The PLKN was among several expensive programmes scrapped by the then Pakatan Harapan government when it came to power in 2018 in an effort to cut the country’s exponentially rising operating expenditures.
It cost about RM500 million annually to run the programme that was started by the then Defence Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak in 2004.
Based on the RM500 million budget, some RM10 billion would have been spent before it was terminated two years ago.
Of course with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, this programme even if it were to be revived would not happen that soon or until the situation returns to normal.
And given the uncertainty over the lifespan of the pandemic even with the vaccine expected to make its debut next year, absolute caution must be the order of the day if at all it were to make a comeback.
But the equally more critical factor is to revisit its concept which many consider flawed not only financially, but in terms of after having it for 14 long years it’s questionable whether PLKN has met its objectives in the first place.
It has become obvious that we need to revisit the entire concept and modules of the training programme before reviving it.
The National Association of Patriots (Patriot) and I are on the same wavelength on this in that it should be led by the Education Ministry instead of having its own department under the original concept.
A former chairman of PLKN told me that in hindsight it was a misnomer to call it national service training at all.
He said national service training as carried out in other countries entails military-like training in fire arms as well while this was not the case with PLKN.
“Here, it’s more like a summer camp training,“ he said.
Instilling patriotism is a no brainer actually. So why make it unwieldy and worse, overzealously expensive in the first place?
Is it more effective to instil patriotism for just three months instead of having it as part of the seamless school curriculum where students spend many years of their growing up process?
This can be done by regular lessons even by speakers from outside the school system who used to conduct such lectures at the PLKN training itself.
I certainly agree with Patriot president Brig-Jen (Rtd) Datuk Mohamed Arshad Raj when he said that in reviving the programme, serious thought must be given to better and cheaper alternatives.
“Patriot agrees that PLKN is a good programme but its revival at this time when the country is facing economic and financial woes made worse by the ravaging Covid-19 pandemic is not necessary,” he said.
“There was much criticism towards the training programme, including that the main objectives to instil patriotism, foster harmony, unity and a caring Malaysian society, had failed,“ said the former army one-star general.
As Mohamed Arshad rightly observed, the programme in its previous concept was seen to enrich cronies as nearly half of the total cost was spent on paying rental of training camps.
In its place, it’s much cheaper and definitely more prudent for the Education Ministry to handle the programme by just developing the relevant training modules.
On the surface this can be seen as extra burden for the already over-loaded school curriculum, but with proper planning and execution it is not because it’s just adding the element of patriotism after all.
Here I would add that the boy Scout and girl guide movements, which have long been in existence in the country, can also be roped in.
With just a tiny fraction of the multi-billion ringgit budget thus far poured into this programme, these two movements can be given a much needed shot in the arm if they were to be involved as well.
Those who have been a boy scout like myself, or for that matter a girl guide, can vouch for the effectiveness of their rigorous code of discipline embedded in more than a century of existence of this global organisation.
So much so that I used to tell friends that I don’t think anyone who had served a jail sentence in a prison had been a boy scout or girl guide in his or her life.
The concept of the PLKN in its original form is also flawed because in any given year only about 30% of Form 5 students managed to get selected to undergo such training. Then what happened to the vast majority who were left out?
Are we achieving the objective of instilling patriotism and other noble traits if a large section of the young were excluded due to cost factors as well?
So it does make a lot of sense, especially financially, to revisit or overhaul the standard operating procedure.
The timing of the announcement of the possible revival of the PLKN is, in my opinion, wrong.
There are other priorities that matter more than a programme that would completely go against the critical need for people to continue to practise physical distancing even for a long time to come.
Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
