When the Federation Military College (FMC) was first set up in September 1952, it was designed and developed to be the “the training ground for a new generation of leaders for independent Malaya.” That was the joint vision of the then-general officer commanding (GOC) for British Malaya and the new defence minister after independence in 1957.  

It started as the Boys Company of the then-Malay Regiment and was founded in Port Dickson. Soon enough though, administration and oversight moved away from the local regiment and was placed under the responsibility of the Army Corps Headquarters at the Defence Ministry. The teachers were mostly provided by the Education Ministry, although at times there were teachers from the Military Education Corps.

Then in 1961, the then-government, with Abdul Razak Hussein as Defence Minister, moved and established the college to its current permanent site. That historic site has recently been “stolen” by the Defence University through their take-over of the Cadet Wing; and the Boys Wing property, all under the pretext of “building a new campus for the RMC.”  

In 1963, the FMC became the Royal Military College (RMC), when the Agong gave the RMC royal colours, and yellow was added to the traditional red and green.  

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The RMC has been documented as a “national institution of utmost importance” by none other than the then-prime minister of Malaysia; and since then the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) has reclassified the RMC as a national institution; even if jointly under the Defence and the Education Ministries.  

The RMC was always designed with the strategic intent of producing leaders in all walks of life for the development and maturity of independent Malaysia. In 1965 also, the first batch of Sarawakians, Sabahans and Singaporeans were included in recognition of the new nation being formed. Unfortunately, that was also the last year for Singaporeans, as that island state subsequently became independent Singapore.

The truth today is that the Army Corp headquarters has been too short-sighted and lacked the shared vision of either Gerald Templer or Abdul Razak Hussein, because they “have allowed the RMC to deteriorate over the years”; starting with a recruitment policy of “compulsory military service for 25 percent of the new entrants” starting in 1968.  

The same policy was expanded to become a “100 percent military service for new entrants” in 1971 or 1972, and thereby the rot began to set in to the college.

Golden goose clearly destroyed

The “golden goose of civilian candidates with all-round excellence for cross-fertilisation of ideas and ideals”, which was the unique value proposition, was clearly destroyed. Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) began becoming the colleges of first choice to most parents. The RMC was no longer attractive to ordinary civilian families.  

The then-editorial board of the Bugler magazine even documented their disgust by publishing an editorial condemning it around the same year.

In the same year, while I was a final year student in Universiti Malaya’s Faculty of Economics and Public Administration, I was also voted the secretary of the RMC Old Puteras Association. In the same year I was completing my undergraduate thesis on the question: “The RMC As A Source of Elite Recruitment?”  

In its formation as an old boy’s association, the RMCOPA was named as such as a mark of honour to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong who had given the colours and made the FMC a royal institution. We therefore called ourselves the Old Puteras of the RMC.

Today, regardless of what anyone else will argue, the rotting of the RMC is more than complete.  The obvious loss of our physical site is only a symptom of the failure of the leadership of the armed forces to capture and steward the original vision of the founding fathers; both great men of vision for a newly independent nation-state.

Therefore, maybe it is time to close that older version of the RMC down and develop a newer RMC, “to prepare leaders for the new and emerging Asia, within an ever-changing and ever challenging world!”

The Original RMC Review Committee formed by the OPA was chaired by OP Azzat Kamaludin. One of our recommendations was to allow for about 10 percent of students from the rest of Asean. I would now like to review it by suggesting that we seriously consider the new RMC as an international school of utmost importance to train new leadership for the Asian Century.

Today’s No 1 problem worldwide is leadership; good quality moral leadership who can coalesce membership without any authority or power and only with knowledge and wisdom. All public or private roles of leadership, whether in the home, school, community or larger society requires the character of integrity. The new leadership demands integration with integrity within the context of a different tomorrow.

Therefore, integrity, like the quality of dignity, is a rare and exceptional feature of life wherein the incumbent is presumed to be described by quite a different set of words, like:

  • Strength of character
  • Steadfast, resolute, having fibre
  • Walking the talk, doing what was promised
  • Authentic, straightforward, what’s on the inside is displayed on the outside
  • Open, honest, and direct in their dealings with others
  • Clear and uncompromised values, and clarity about what is right and wrong
  • Committed, with courage of convictions
  • Behaviour matched virtues
  • Principled, honourable, fair, accountable and responsible
  • Balanced, integrated, whole
  • Self-aware and self-reflective
  • Mature and wise

Very few reflected these virtues

Margret Thorsborne, a management consultant to companies, conducted research on the issue of integrity in Queensland, Australia. Her book is entitled The Seven Heavenly Virtues of Leadership . While she was able to generate this list, the telling feature of the research was that her respondents could only name a very few people they knew who reflected these values and virtues.

Therefore, my question and challenge as a proposal to ourselves, as we seek so badly to begin our Revamp of the RMC Agenda,  for future leaders of “1BangsaMalaysia,”* how can we make integrity our unique value proposition? Our objective then must be to train and mentor a team of younger Malaysians and other Asians for the future leadership of any nation-state within a globalising society and economy.

* I define this as more than Vision 2020 Malaysia, or even the original vision of a Bangsa Malaysia. To me, these are a quality of leaders who have a vision to make Malaysia great for her own sake, and believe that Malaysia is a great country and can become even greater. It combines Mahathir Mohamad’s vision with Najib Abdul Razak’s 1Malaysia vision but focuses on the people and the agenda but not on the nation-state; which is not a living entity.