Malaysia's Islamic opposition party will organize training to help teen-agers drafted in a new national service program resist any attempts to indoctrinate them with pro-government rhetoric, officials said yesterday.
About 85,000 high school graduates born in 1986 have been called up for three months of physical training, community service and indoor classes on patriotism under Malaysia's first national service program. The first batch starts next month.
Authorities say the plan aims to boost racial integration and curb religious extremism among youths in mostly Muslim Malaysia. But the opposition fears the recruits might also be indoctrinated to support the government.
Salahuddin Ayub, youth chief of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, said party members' children who have been selected for the program will undergo a course later this month in "facing various forms of indoctrination."
The course would encourage teenagers to reject tutelage that includes "adoration of government leaders," suspicion toward the opposition and teachings that disregard Islamic principles, Salahuddin said.
"We hope there will not be any indoctrination, but we must still be prepared for the worst," he said.
The training would be compulsory for young people affiliated with the party, and would not be open to anyone else.
Defense Minister Najib Razak said last weekend the government will "not have any political indoctrination for trainees," stressing that the program was meant to be "a tool for nation-building."
Despite the government's assurances, the Islamic party has identified more than 500 teenagers so far who will participate in its course, which would last at least one day at party centers nationwide, Salahuddin said.
The Islamic party poses the main threat to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's ruling coalition in general elections expected later this year. It controls the governments of two of Malaysia's 13 states and helps set the tone of political debate among the Malay Muslim majority.
Government leaders have in the past accused the Islamic party of twisting religious principles for political profit and breeding extremism by preaching hatred against the government. In turn, the fundamentalists accuse Abdullah's party of shunning Islam's tenets and allowing cronyism and corruption to thrive.
Recruits for the national service program were chosen at random by computer from more than 480,000 boys and girls who turn 18 this year.
Males and females will have segregated living quarters, but would get the same training at dozens of camps nationwide, including outdoor activities such as marching, unarmed combat and emergency first aid, the government says.
Book classes will focus on subjects like national security, history and civic pride.
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