KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 — Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein urged outstanding students, especially SPM leavers, today to take up studies related to peace and unity at the Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) to ensure Malaysia was safe from any potential terrorist attacks in the future.

Describing students as future leaders of Malaysia, the defence minister encouraged them to study such courses and become experts in studying the patterns of terrorist attacks.

“Terrorist threats are changing from time to time as if you see al-Qaeda and IS (Islamic State), the (method of) attacks are different.

“We must be able to study these attack trends so that Malaysia is always safe and peaceful,” he said.

Hishammuddin told reporters this after handing over appreciation awards to staff of ministry of defence, armed forces (ATM), navy and air force.

He also gave out awards to 24 children of ATM personnel who scored outstandingly in last year’s SPM examination.

At the ceremony, Hishammuddin announced that he was sponsoring the studies of two Masters’ programme students and two Doctorates’ (PHD) programme students at UPNM.

In light of the recent attack in Belgium, Hishammuddin said the defence ministry has adopted proactive measures to ensure the country was always on guard of such activities.