Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman announced today that the National Civics Bureau (Biro Tatanegara, BTN) and National Service programmes will be abolished.

Syed Saddiq added that his ministry will be taking over the drafting of a substitute programme that will be in line with the Federal Constitution and Rukun Negara.

"The government has decided that the National Service and BTN programmes will be abolished and replaced with a new programme that can shape youths of the future that have strong vision and character.

"The Youth and Sports Ministry, which is managing the new programme, will restructure the functions, appointments, allocation and assets of the National Service Department and BTN," he told a press conference at the Parliament today.

Syed Saddiq said the new programme would be holistic, combining high-impact indoor and outdoor activities to bring out the potential in youths.

"Among the elements that will be incorporated are teambuilding, character building, national integration, nationalism and political socialisation," he said.

He said this would be in line with the ministry's goal of empowering youths and lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 years.

"As this programme involves cross-agency collaboration, the Youth and Sports Ministry will be engaging with stakeholders such as the Prime Minister's Department, Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, Defence Ministry, Education Ministry and non-government organisations, including youth organisations, to scrutinise the implementation mechanism to ensure its effectiveness," Syed Saddiq said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of national unity and social wellbeing, Md Farid Md Rafik, said the BTN would be restructured and possibly absorbed into the Youth and Sports Ministry.

"We are quite clear that the old BTN does not have a place in the government. But the machinery and infrastructure are available for the government.

"It will be restructured and used to instil patriotism and love for the country among youths.

"Pakatan Harapan will not abuse it for political gains," Md Farid said.

Meanwhile, former Youth and Sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin said there was a lack of details on the nature of restructuring that the National Service Department and BTN will undergo.

Asked if the previous programmes were politically motivated, Khairy said that was not the case with the National Service programme.

However, on BTN, Khairy said: "You should understand" (Faham-faham saja lah).