Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student and Alumni Affairs) Prof Mohamed Fadzil Che Din said the 3,000 students would be broken up into several battalions, with each group headed by an appointed student.
“When we divide the students into small groups and they move together, we find it much easier to detect problematic students, regardless of whether the problem involves personal matters or studies.
“However, to date, we have not identified UPNM students involved in extremist activities,” he told Bernama here today.
He was asked to comment on the statement by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Wednesday who said institutions of higher education (IPT) were identified as places feared to have the strongest militant influence.
According to Zahid, such militant influence did not only take place in the country but also abroad.
Mohamed Fadzil explained that as a measure to educate students to oppose militant violence, UPNM also organised programmes such as monthly talks. Members of the Malaysian Armed Forces, police, lecturers and psychologists took part in these discussions.
In the meantime, he suggested that focus be given to students in religious studies, as opposed to other fields, so that they would not misinterpret the concept of jihad in Islam.
Meanwhile, National Student Representative Council (MPPK) President Muhammad Farhan Khairuddin said the WhatsApp application was used to communicate and share information with every university student delegate leader (MPP) on extremist activities.
“We also cooperate closely with the police and if there is information or warning from the police on militant activities, we will upload it in the MPPK official Facebook to be disseminated to the students so they will not be influenced.”
In the meantime, he suggested that all MPP monitor the programmes organised by students to ensure they did not contain elements of extremism, other than reporting to the university’s administration if there were militant influences among the students.
– BERNAMA