Origins: The University of Malaya Reserve Army During the
Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation in 1965, thirty students from the
University of Malaya, all of whom were alumni of the
Royal Military College, volunteered to undergo military training at Siputih Training Camp,
Batu Gajah,
Perak, during their semester break. On 3 April 1965, the university's academic staff and lecturers established the
1st (University of Malaya) Reserve Army Battalion, Territorial Army (). Owing to the absence of a nearby
military installation, early training sessions for staff and students were conducted in a small room within the university's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. As the unit expanded in 1969, the University of Malaya constructed a five-bay wooden building at KM 8,
Jalan Damansara,
Kuala Lumpur, to serve as the unit's headquarters and training centre. The site, later known as
Camp Damansara, was built on university-owned land by the
Malaysian Public Works Department under a mutual agreement between the university and the
Ministry of Defence. Under this arrangement, the university was required to share the facility with the
11th Infantry Division of the
Malaysian Army. • 1st (University of Malaya) Reserve Army Battalion, Territorial Army • HQ Company – University of Malaya • A Company – MARA Institute of Technology • B Company – University of Agriculture Malaysia • C Company – National University of Malaysia
Establishment of the Reserve Officer Training Unit In 1978,
Brigadier General Dato' Abdul As Ismail, Commander of the
Territorial Army, proposed the formation of a formalised military officer training programme at universities. He presented this idea to
vice-chancellors of public universities and the Director of the MARA Institute of Technology. The proposal was well received, and on 18 December 1978, the
Chief of Defence Forces and
Chief of Army formally approved the establishment of the Reserve Officer Training Unit (ROTU). On 26 February 1979, the Chief of the Army convened a meeting with university administrators and directed them to establish ROTU programmes at their institutions. The National University of Malaysia was the first to implement the directive, officially establishing its ROTU on 1 July 1979, with
Professor Mohd Ghazali appointed as the first
commandant and granted the honorary rank of
Lieutenant Colonel. Subsequently, the 1st (University of Malaya) Reserve Army Battalion, Territorial Army, was officially dissolved on 2 February 1980, with the University of Malaya's ROTU established on 5 February 1980, followed by the University of Agriculture Malaysia on 8 February 1980 and the MARA Institute of Technology on 6 March 1980. By 2017, ROTU programmes had been established in 18 more universities and institutions, including three additional branches of Universiti Teknologi MARA. In the late 1980s, ROTU was officially renamed
Pasukan Latihan Pegawai Simpanan (
PALAPES).
Naval and Air Force Variants The
naval variant of ROTU, known as PALAPES Laut, was launched in 1986 at
Universiti Sains Malaysia, while the
air force variant, PALAPES Udara, was introduced in 1989 at
Universiti Utara Malaysia. While all PALAPES programmes operate under a single command structure, the specific military training for each service is conducted by the respective branches of the Malaysian Armed Forces. == Objectives ==