Since 2024, the Malaysian government’s National Anti-Drugs Agency (AADK) has worked with The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) to support individuals recovering from substance use. Through this collaboration, TPRF’s Peace Education Program has been implemented across Malaysia’s government-run substance centers, with clients expressing improved self-awareness, emotional clarity, hope and motivation.
“I wish I had heard about the message earlier – I would not have made wrong choices in life,” said one of the program participants.
Substance addiction remains one of Malaysia’s significant challenges, with the AADK working as Malaysia’s lead agency to combat drug and substance use in Malaysia, under the statute of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The agency focuses mainly on preventative drug education, enforcement and security programming and treatment and rehabilitation programming. The Malaysian government has established various rehabilitation centers and therapeutic programs, including six centers where TPRF has thus far been able to conduct its Peace Education Program in Tamil.
Program implementation was driven by Kalki Karl, a registered psychologist with 30 years of professional experience in drug prevention education. This background inspired him to introduce the Peace Education Program to clients going through treatment and rehabilitation in Malaysia’s government run centers. Today, 20 trained volunteer facilitators run the Peace Education Program across six centers throughout Malaysia, with a seventh center expected to start the Peace Education Program this April, 2026.
Participants across districts where the program has been implemented have shared that the workshops helped them deepen their understanding of themselves, particularly their emotions and thoughts, and sense of personal responsibility.
“In 2025, I had planted seeds of hate, anger, greed, self-doubt, but in 2026, I want to plant seeds of love, clarity, peace, happiness, positive, no drugs, grow, listen,” said one of the participants. Other participants from the Johor state expressed new hope in life and felt new possibilities for personal growth and change.
TPRF’s Peace Education Program consists of a series of ten innovative, video-based workshops that aim to support people in discovering their inner strengths and personal peace. The program is available for free in more than 45 languages, and has been presented in more than 80 countries, including Malaysia since 2015. Providing space for individual reflection, each workshop is structured and facilitated, focusing on one of the following ten themes: Peace, Appreciation, Inner Strength, Self-awareness, Clarity, Understanding, Dignity, Choice, Hope and Contentment.
TPRF was first invited to introduce the Peace Education Program in 2024 at AADK’s Headquarters in Selangor, a state in the central west coast of Malaysia. The event was attended by directors from the treatment and rehabilitation division, and soon after TPRF was offered the opportunity to conduct the program across three districts in Selangor. By 2025, the program was expanded to two additional states in Malaysia, Johor Baru and Perak, and by 2026, it had further extended to an additional two districts. As of 2026, 250 clients in Malaysia’s national rehabilitation centers had gone through the Peace Education Program.
Many of the clients who participated in the Peace Education Program across Malaysia’s nationally-run centers reported that sessions helped them develop emotional awareness, personal responsibility and motivation to make positive changes in their lives. Many also shared that the Peace Education Program offered their first exposure to self-reflective and personal peace related content, and they deeply valued the insights they gained.
AADK officers have also shared enthusiasm for continuing the Peace Education Program’s implementation across the country’s rehabilitation centers, requesting the workshops due to positive response from clients.
AADK’s implementation of the Peace Education Program shows how peace-centered approaches can complement national rehabilitation strategies. Malaysia’s case offers an adaptable model for other countries.
