By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Oct 29: Sarawak human rights advocate Peter John Jaban has called on the Federal government to justify the entry of minors to undergo National Service Training Programme 3.0 (PLKN 3.0) which will begin next year.
He was referring to Deputy Defence Minister Adly Zahari’s recent announcement on PLKN 3.0 which would select participants aged 16 to 35 from among students in Form Four, Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) leavers and students from institutions of higher learning.
“This is the third attempt at such a programme in Malaysia with the previous two ending in complete failure. The last was suspended under claims it was being used for indoctrination of ‘certain beliefs’.
“But now the Madani government are trying again, with all the same problems and still no explanation of who will be targeted, what they will be taught and even why this is needed.
“To make matters worse, this new programme is going after even younger children who should be at home with their communities, not forced into camps with other conscripts.
“Does the Deputy Minister really think that the Malaysian Defence Force is better able to care for children than their own parents, especially given the recent coverage of extreme abuse at the National Defence University which resulted in the tragic and terrible death of a 20-year-old naval cadet who was not safe in his own barracks?” Peter John wrote in a statement today.
He further questioned the Federal government’s urgency of rescheduling the PLKN programme for January instead of June 2025 and argued that the objective of instilling a ‘sense of identity’ among the participants could be achieved through national education system without removing them from their homes.
He also questioned the fairness of labelling the training programme as a ‘national service’ when it targets only a ‘chosen’ few, calling for transparency on the selection criteria and parental rights to refuse participation.
“Choosing to join the armed services is one thing but imposing this arbitrary and pernicious plan now on a pilot group of young people, when its necessity is not immediately apparent, should be triggering alarm bells for everyone.
“The Madani Government and the Ministry of Defence must be more transparent on this programme and its role in modern, multicultural Malaysia,” he added. — DayakDaily
