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KUALA LUMPUR: The Defence Ministry, through Yayasan LTAT, has launched three programmes to aid the welfare of the families in the armed forces.
Its minister, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, said these include financial assistance for children with disabilities of armed forces personnel and exposure programmes for graduates of military families.
He said these programmes were part of the agenda for taking care of the welfare of armed forces personnel and their families.
"The ministry, through Yayasan LTAT, will deliver aid to the disabled children of armed forces personnel, where under this programme, the latter allocates a donation amount of RM300,000.
He said that from this amount, each child in the Persons With Disabilities (PWD) category whose parent is part of the armed forces would be given RM300, and RM500 would be given to those pursuing tertiary education.
He added that Pharmaniaga Bhd would provide Hari Raya contributions totaling RM22,500 to tahfiz school students and orphans of armed forces personnel.
Khaled said to enhance skills and exposure, the ministry had launched two programmes in collaboration with Pharmaniaga Bhd and BHPetrol.
"Firstly, the Pharmagrad programme, held in cooperation with Pharmaniaga where it is a form of industry training specialised for children of members of the armed forces and veterans, who are graduates in fields such as pharmaceuticals, biomedical, chemistry, research and development, engineering, logistics, information technology and finance.
"They will get the opportunity to undergo an eight month industrial training programme with Pharmaniaga."
He said that starting next year, Pharmaniaga would allocate 120 spots through the programme.
Another programme, Khaled said, was the Professional Training and Education for Growing Entrepreneurs — Ready To Work (PROTEGE-RTW), which is held in collaboration with BHPetrol.
"PROTEGE-RTW combines several initiatives to enhance the employability potential of graduates and entrepreneurial skills among unemployed graduates.
"It is open to graduates of children of armed forces personnel in all fields. It will involve, among others, placement training and guidance with companies involved for eight to 12 months."
He said that among the companies participating in this programme were Pharmaniaga and BHPetrol, as well as government-linked companies (GLCs), government procurement recipient companies and private companies.
"BHPetrol will allocate 22 spots each year for three years with a total of 66 placements.
"Its candidate selection will be based on predefined criteria for suitability and the number of candidates will be reviewed according to future needs," he said at the ministry's breaking of fast event here.
Present were the Deputy Defence Minister Adly Zahari, Defence Ministry secretary-general Isham Ishak and armed forces chief of staff Lieutenant General Datuk Arman Rumaizi Ahmad.