Program Khidmat Negara

The National Service Training Programme, or Program Latihan Khidmat Negara (PLKN), is Malaysia's national service program. The conscripts are 18-year-old youths that are selectively drafted. The three-month program, which started in December 2003, began as way to encourage friendship between youths of certain ages from different races and ethnic groups and address concerns that the country's various groups were becoming increasingly isolated from one another. This program was halted for one year in 2015 due to the federal government's efforts to cut spending.