THE National Service Training Programme 3.0 may only be implemented from 2025 onwards, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said.
He said it is not possible for the programme to be carried out again next year since it was not included in Budget 2024.
He said there are 13 Territorial Army camps across the country that are proposed as locations for the programme to be conducted. These need to first be upgraded to facilitate the training.
“The execution of the programme is still in the study stage. The cabinet has approved for the Defence Ministry to carry out further studies to revive the programme.
“All related analysis and feedback, including the relaunch mechanism, will be discussed with stakeholders, the community and civil society groups and then brought to the cabinet for the ministers to deliberate over before it is finalised," he said.
He said this while wrapping up the committee-level debate on the Supply Bill 2024 for the ministry at the Dewan Rakyat today.
In October, the government announced that it is resuming the programme which was abolished in 2018, using a different training approach, with young people undergoing training at military camps.
The ministry then announced earlier this month that teenagers born in 2007 will be called to undergo the training if it is implemented in 2024.
Each year trainees will be selected according to their year of birth.
The implementation is in line with the National Service Training Act 2003 (Act 628).
The ministry’s clarification on the age came after it was reported that there was apprehension over talk that the programme would include 35-year-olds.
This became a hot topic on social media. A majority of the netizens described such a move as absurd because people who are older than teenagers have their own commitments, especially families and jobs.
While some agreed, a few chose to joke about the matter, and uploaded various memes of older people serving in the National Service. – The Vibes, November 23, 2023
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