Malaysia scraps voluntary National Service programme, civics bureau

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia will discontinue its voluntary national service programme and abolish the controversial National Civics Bureau with immediate effect, the country's Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman announced on Monday (Aug 13).

According to the minister, the Malaysian Cabinet made the decision last week. Ministers in the Pakatan Harapan government have publicly hinted at the abolishment of both programmes in recent months.

Mr Syed Saddiq told reporters that all manpower and resources for both programmes will be absorbed into the relevant ministries, adding: "They will undergo a consolidation effort, where we will decide how best to manage all the existing assets."

Malaysia's national service programme used to be compulsory for randomly selected batches of 18-year-olds — a process which drew controversy and criticism. Following a revamp, the authorities said last year that only volunteers would be selected for the eight-week national service training programme.

Trainees who have a change of heart while at the camp as well as those with health problems will not be forced to stay on.

The civics bureau, meanwhile, has its roots as a youth research unit set up in the 1970s. But it had been placed under the Prime Minister's Department since the 1980s, raising suspicions that the agency was effectively a propaganda arm for the government.

The Pakatan Harapan government has been under pressure from its own supporters to terminate the bureau. MALAY MAIL

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