Historically, following the Confrontation, the Reserve unit was formed on 3 April 1965 as the 1st Infantry Battalion, Askar Wataniah at University Malaya, mustered from amongst undergraduates and staff of Universiti Malaya. Initially 30 undergraduates from various faculties volunteered and underwent basic training during their semester breaks at the Recruit Training Camp at Kem Latihan Seputih, Batu Gajah, Perak. The majority of the recruits had prior experience in the Army and Police Cadets and many were former students of the Maktab Tentera DiRaja (Royal Military College).