Consider extending national service to lawmakers, says academician

KUCHING (Oct 28): Academician Dr Muzaffar Syah Mallow has called on the government to consider extending the National Service Training Programme 3.0 to all elected representatives in the country, starting from January next year.

The Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia’s Faculty of Syariah and Law associate professor asserted that this move would allow all lawmakers to closely examine the strengths and weaknesses of the programme.

“Since the inauguration of the programme in 2003, the target participants have always been the youths.

“It is now time to take a drastic step to improve the programme by including all the legislators in the country. Since most of our legislators are older, a few adjustments can be made to the programme modules to suit their physical abilities,” he said in a statement today.

Muzaffar noted that the three-month programme aims to cultivate friendships between youths of different races and ethnic groups, promoting cultural understanding and racial harmony.

He recalled that the programme was suspended in 2015 due to the federal government’s austerity drive but was reintroduced in 2016.

“The programme is aimed at developing a young generation who is patriotic and devoted to their country, enhancing unity among the multi-racial communities in the country, instilling a spirit of caring and volunteerism in the society, and producing an active, intelligent and confident generation.”

Additionally, he said the programme aims to develop positive characteristics among the younger generation through good values and foster a generation that is loyal to the country.

Given this, Muzaffar opined that the programme should be extended to all politicians, particularly lawmakers at both federal and state levels.

Besides focusing on the youths, he said the government also needs lawmakers who possess high qualities of character and morality, better skills and sharp minds to run the country.

“All these can be achieved by joining the national service programme. Malaysians deserve to have professional and fit politicians to represent them in either the Dewan Rakyat or the state legislative assemblies,” he added.

Recently, Deputy Defence Minister Adly Zahari said the National Service Training Programme 3.0 would be implemented in stages from January next year.

He said the programme would start with two military camps in Kuala Lumpur and Pahang before being expanded to 13 other camps across the nation fully implemented in 2026.