-By Elisa Shafiqah binti Shahrilnizam

The recent approval of PLKN 3.0 execution, coordinated by the Ministry of Defence Malaysia, has raised public criticism over its curriculum and relevance. While the programme contains certain old features, such as military and nationalistic courses, it also includes new components such as pre-PLKN training and optional intakes. This redesigned effort seeks to instil charisma, patriotism, and solidarity among young people in response to escalating identity politics. However, its conformity with the UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) is limited. Despite having comparable goals, not all of the pillars of the YPS Agenda are fully integrated into PLKN's design and implementation.

Reviewing the first pillar of participation, PLKN provides a platform for young people to participate in structured activities, workshops, and community service projects, fostering their sense of agency and empowerment. Through these experiences, participants develop valuable leadership, teamwork, and communication skills, which are essential for meaningful participation in decision-making processes related to peace and security. However, youth are still not meaningfully participating in the program planning, decision-making and governance process surrounding PLKN.

Looking into the protection pillar, PLKN offers an organised setting that puts participants' mental and physical health first. These attempts can protect young people from negative influences by imparting qualities of respect and discipline. However, in spite of its stated protectionist goals, PLKN has come under fire for instances of sexual harassment and bullying beyond 600 cases over the years, which worries the security of marginalised populations.

In addition, PLKN works to uphold the prevention pillar by encouraging tolerance and social cohesion among the participants. The program's objectives are to develop resilience and promote a culture of peace in the community via collaboration and conflict resolution-focused activities. Although the programme houses youth from diverse backgrounds together, the curriculum of PLKN still lacks methods on areas of encouraging diversity and inclusion whilst reducing conflict sensitivity.

PLKN uses a multi-collaborative strategy that includes international stakeholders, government agencies, and civil society organisations. By forming such partnerships, PLKN extends its reach and encourages creative peacebuilding initiatives by gaining access to more resources and knowledge especially to reach out to a wider range of youth from various backgrounds. But the framework's operating restrictions make it less sustainable in terms of finance and capacity, making it more difficult to adjust to changing demands and environment of peer learning.

While PLKN primarily focuses on youth development and empowerment, it could potentially contribute to disengagement and reintegration efforts by providing support and guidance to young people transitioning out of involvement with armed groups or extremist ideologies. This could involve offering counselling, vocational training, and mentorship programs to help reintegrate these individuals into society as productive and peaceful citizens. The difficulty, however, is in recognising and enlisting at-risk children in the programme and motivating community-based recidivism prevention strategies. In order for PLKN to effectively carry out its mission of nation-building and lasting peace, it is imperative that these complications be addressed.

Understanding how YPS is limitedly localised into PLKN, I believe this opens a room full of opportunities to improve the system and subsequently the quality of youths who graduated from PLKN. As PLKN 3.0 structures are yet to be finalised, the Cabinet can consider firstly, enhancing meaningful youth participation and ownership as enshrined in the UN Secretary General’s Brief by involving them in programme design and governance structures to make the programme youth-adaptive and friendly.

Besides, PLKN must also include more protection measures and support services by not only increasing the culture of inclusivity and sensitivity for participants’ safety but also setting up an independent supervisory body to review the code of conduct of trainers and participants inclusive of unethical acts such as corruption and harassment. Additionally, it should also feature various forms of peace education in both the military and nationalism modules, looking into conflict resolution, the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) agenda as well as transformative peacebuilding measures.

By implementing such recommendations, PLKN 3.0 has the potential to contribute further to the progress of youth development and peacebuilding aligned with UNSCR2250. A robust whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach is needed to ensure a just, sustainable and equitable future for Malaysia to grow holistically from youth themselves.
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