UPNM BULLY ISSUE: CADET OFFICERS TO UNDERGO RANDOM EXAMINATION TO DETECT ABUSIVE INJURIES

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 (Bernama) -- Regular physical examinations will be conducted on cadet officers of the Military Training Academy (ALK) of the Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) to detect any abusive activities that may cause 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 happening again.

He said at the same time meeting between cadet officers and top officials of ALK-UPNM will also be held exclusively to provide a free space without fear to obtain information on misconduct among cadet officers.

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"This is to overcome the issue of cadet officers' reluctance to report inappropriate incidents," he said in response to a question by Nordin Ahmad Ismail (PN-Lumut) regarding efforts to ensure that bullying activities at UPNM are stopped during the Minister's Question Time session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Mohamed Khaled said the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) had also increased the staffing of officers and Other Ranks (LLP) assigned to ALK-UPNM and added trainers to increase monitoring of cadet officers.

He said with the additional officers, there will be 48 people compared to 31 officers earlier and increasing LLPs to 182 compared to 124 LLPs.

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Mohamed Khaled said MAF 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 11:59 pm 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 (CCTV) 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 instructor since the group is usually targeted.

Mohamed Khaled said the cases of bullying reported in ALK only increased this year compared to 2022 and 2023 with one case recorded each year.

He said the ministry would expose the forms of offences and impose severe punishments on bullies, besides emphasising the seriousness of the offence of conspiring to hide bullying incidents in ALK.

-- BERNAMA