Malaysian National Service

Malaysian National Service, or Program Latihan Khidmat Negara was first proposed in late 2001, brought to committee the next year, and finally brought to action in 2003. In late December 2003, the names of 85,000 conscripts for the first National Service program was made public. These youths were randomly selected out of the roughly 450,000 youths born in 1986, through a computerised process.

The program has its' own theme song and logo. Conscripts are issued two pairs each of three different types of uniforms: a class uniform, a sports uniform, and a combat uniform. The combat uniform's design is of blue camouflage stripes, made out of light blue, dark blue, white, and black. The general color scheme for the class and sports uniforms is blue, and black.

In the 2004 program, conscripts (referred to as "trainees") spent a month in physical training camp, followed by two months at a nearby university or sports complex. The program consisted of three separate, overlapping batches. The first batch of 24,000 began in February and ended in May, while the second and third batches began in March and ended in June. Trainees were divided among 42 training camps scattered all over the country.

In the upcoming 2005 program, 85,000 youths will be selected out of the country's 471,000 youths born in 1987. They will be placed in 71 training camps, in three different batches. Each batch will undergo three months of training. However, the 2005 batches will not overlap, as with the previous year's. Instead, the three batches will span a total of nine months.

The list of the conscripts for the 2005 program is expected to be released on 28 August 2004.

A well-known insider account of daily life in Malaysian National Service is Operating Instructions by Kim.

The program is run by Malaysia's Ministry of Defense.