KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 — Regular physical examinations will be conducted on cadet officers of the Military Training Academy (ALK) at the Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) to detect any abusive activities that may lead to injury.
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said it was among the eight improvement actions and prevention mechanisms that have been and are being taken to prevent incidents of bullying from repeating.
At the same time, he said meetings between cadet officers and senior officials of ALK-UPNM will also be held to provide a safe space where cadet officers can freely share information on any misconduct without fear.
“This is to overcome the issue of cadet officers’ reluctance to report inappropriate incidents,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to a question from Lumut MP Nordin Ahmad Ismail regarding efforts to ensure that bullying cases at UPNM do not happen again.
Khaled said the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) had also increased the number of officers and Other Ranks (LLP) assigned to ALK-UPNM and added trainers to enhance the monitoring of cadet officers.
He said with the additions, there will now be 48 officers compared to 31 previously, while the number of LLPs is increased from 124 to 182.
Khaled said the MAF has also assigned a trainer on duty for each company to enable closer monitoring of cadet officers on a daily basis.
“Trainers on duty have been instructed to patrol the accommodation of cadet officers after 11.59pm every day,” he said, adding that action will be taken against cadet officers found guilty of abuse.
Starting February 2023, he said seven closed-circuit cameras were installed on several levels of accommodation blocks to detect suspicious activities and the ministry is planning to increase the number according to need and suitability.
In the meantime, the isolation of first-year cadet officers was carried out at Bukit Putera starting April and placed under the full control of the instructors, considering the group is usually targeted by seniors.
Khaled added that bullying cases in ALK only showed an increase this year, with just one each recorded in 2022 and 2023.
— Bernama
