Defence Ministry mulls changes to National Service

KUALA LUMPUR: The Defence Ministry is looking into ways to transform the existing National Service into a beneficial programme where parents are willing to send their children to participate, said its minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (pix).
There is a need to re-evaluate the programme with new concepts that foster skills and patriotism, he added.
"To ensure this is achieved, the ministry has engaged various stakeholders including parents, industry players, NS alumni, NGOs, and students to get their input and suggestions to help it produce the best summary to transform the programme," he said in reply to a question by Senator Datuk Mohd Salim Sharif in the Dewan Negara.
He added the ministry proposed to set up a laboratory to finetune and summarise all the suggestions provided by various quarters.
"Among the transformations proposed are introducing soft and hard skill elements into the programme and elements which would help form human capital which would not only meet the country's industrial needs, but also foster love for the country," he said.
He added the ministry would work with other ministries, including the Youth and Sports, Education, and Human Resources, on various strategies to transform the programme.
Hishammuddin said that since the inception of NS in Feb 16, 2004, the programme has trained 832,712 trainees with the aim of instilling patriotism and racial unity as well as creating an intelligent and active community among trainees.
He said based on a study by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia involving some 61,950 respondents in 2010, the NS programme had managed to bring positive changes to trainees.