No plans to reshuffle UPNM’s Military Training Academy administration, says defence minister amid bullying probe

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 — There is no need to reshuffle the administration of Military Training Academy (ALK) following several incidents of bullying reported recently, said Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

He said for now his ministry will investigate what happened at ALK before going to the next phase of action.

“For now we will look at all the results of the investigations on where the weaknesses are first,” he said at a media conference after officiating the ministry level National Integrity Day 2024 Celebration at Wisma Pertahanan here today.

He said this when asked on the actions taken by his ministry to curb bullying activities in ALK.

Last Sunday, police confirmed that they are investigating an incident involving a 19-year-old Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) student who was stepped on by a third-year senior student of the university resulting in serious injuries to the victim’s rib and spine.

Last month, another incident involved a case of bullying at the same university, with an ALK UPNM cadet officer being brought before the Sessions Court on charges of injuring his junior using a hot steam iron.

Previously, the country was shocked by the tragic death of UPNM sea cadet officer, Allahyarham Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain as a result of being bullied, beaten and tortured when almost all of his body parts were repeatedly pressed using a steam iron.

Following the case that happened in 2017, six former UPNM students were sentenced to death by hanging by the Court of Appeal on July 23 after being found guilty of the act.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Khaled said it was inappropriate to call UPNM various names which could damage the image of the university following the reported incident of bullying because UPNM is not a university that only caters to the needs of the Ministry of Defence.

He said indeed UPNM gives place to cadets sponsored by the ministry but it also has students from the public.

“If we look at the number of UPNM students currently registered, there are 4,200 and of that number there are currently 957 cadets.This shows that cadets are only one fourth of the total number of students in UPNM,” he said.

He said that if the incident happened during a learning session at UPNM, then it is the responsibility of the university but the incident which happened during military training or at the ALK dormitory, it is not appropriate to label UPNM with various names.

“These cadets are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence, every year 300 cadets will be taken to make the total ALK in 1,000 and these people are stationed at (ALK). They are not placed the same as this other student dormitory (UPNM) and everything happens in ALK instead of UPNM. This (Alleged bullying incident) happened at ALK under the Ministry of Defence,” he said.

Also present at the ceremony were Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki and Defence Ministry secretary-general Datuk Lokman Hakim Ali. — Bernama