He told the Dewan Rakyat that PLKN 1.0 cost RM565 million per year for 71,300 participants, averaging RM7,900 per participant.

Khaled said PLKN 2.0 saw a higher per participant cost of RM18,000, with RM361 million per year spent on the 20,000 participants.

“However, PLKN 3.0 will cost only RM200 million for more than 100,000 participants, or an average of RM2,000 per participant,” he told Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (Independent-Muar).

Syed Saddiq had enquired about the cost of implementing PLKN 3.0.

Khaled also said that apart from being carried out on a voluntary basis, PLKN 3.0 will also be more comprehensive.

The minister said PLKN 3.0 will focus on the nation’s sovereignty and mental discipline. It will also have light military training programmes and structured learning tailored to participants based on their age.

“The programme will be held at army camps, universities and polytechnics. It aims to inculcate values such as discipline and patriotism,” he said, adding that PLKN 3.0 will include a monitoring mechanism involving various stakeholders.

He was responding to an additional question from Ahmad Johnie Zawawi (GPS-Igan) on the differences between the three programmes.

PLKN was launched in 2004 by the Barisan Nasional government, suspended in 2015, reintroduced a year later, and abolished in 2018 when the Pakatan Harapan administration took over.