Royal Malaysian Navy submarine refit facility now fully functional

KOTA KINABALU: The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) Submarine Base now has a fully functional Scorpene Class Submarine maintenance facility in South East Asia. The refit facility was completed by Trans Resources Corporation Sdn Bhd (TRC) on January 14 after work began on September 8, 2014. It comprises three blocks that contain seven workshops to conduct maintenance and repair on piping, hull, machine, combat systems, composite, paint and battery, as well as offices and changing rooms. Yesterday Naval Chief, Admiral Datuk Seri Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin visited the base to inspect the first refit work at the facility on the KD Tunku Abdul Rahman submarine. The facility is located at the Boustead DCNS Naval Corporation Sdn Bhd dockyards. Kamarulzaman said the maintenance facility in Sabah would save the Navy from having to send submarine components or parts abroad for maintenance. “The completion of the facility makes the Submarine Base the best Scorpene base in the region,” he said, adding that the dockyards could accommodate 250 people at any given time. Refitting work of submarines is carried out locally and involves maintaining and repairing 14,000 components. Kamarulzaman said it would provide exposure and opportunities to local industries involved in the maintenance of submarines. “This will reduce dependence on foreign skill and labour and hence save outward cash flow from the country,” he added. Further, the work which also includes local labour proved Malaysia’s capabilities in performing any given job and was one way to help protect the nation’s highly confidential strategies. “It also proves the expertise of our local defence industries and can boost confidence among Malaysians on our submarines. “For instance, the dock workers use a robot, which is manufactured by a company in Terengganu to clean the hull of the submarine and even the French engineers have acknowledged that this is an achievement because even they still clean submarine hulls manually in France,” he said. He explained that the current condition and appearance of submarines actually depicted that the submarine had been underwater many times. “I know many people doubt whether our submarines can actually submerge but I assure you they can submerge. Even now, the KD Tun Razak is currently on an operation and it is actually underwater. “The Submarine Force utilises every opportunity it has to go on subsurface operations,” he said, adding that he might one day have members of the media given the opportunity to be on the submarine when it goes on a subsurface mission. Kamarulzaman was touring the Sepanggar Naval Base for the first time as Naval Chief since he assumed the post on November 18, 2015. He was accompanied by the Region 2 Naval Commander, Rear Admiral Datuk Khairul Anuar Yahya and Submarine Force Chief, Rear Admiral Datuk Abdul Rahman Ayob as well as senior naval officers. Kamarulzaman, previously held the post of the First Region Naval Commander 2 in Kota Kinabalu as well as being Joint Forces Chief in charge of the security of Sabah and Sarawak waters. He was also directly involved in Ops Daulat during the Lahad Datu intrusion in 2013. Earlier, a parade was held at the Naval Base to welcome him followed by a speech from Kamarulzaman to the officers and personnel serving at the Kota Kinabalu Naval Base. He then attended the handing over ceremony of the Auxiliary Vessel Bunga Mas Lima. Also present with him were Boustead DCNS Naval Corporation Chief Executive, Jean-Luc Bianchini and member of the Board of Directors of the Sabah Housing and Town Development Authority (SHTDA), Datuk Seruji Nawawi.

By : CLEOPHAS JOHN GORDON

New sabah Times

LCS Can Too Fight Russia, China: USN breaking Defence Leaders

Breaking Defence
By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.on January 20, 2016 at 2:30 PM

WASHINGTON: Is the Littoral Combat Ship a real warship? That question has bedeviled the small, sleek, lightly armed ships for years. Now it’s taken on new urgency as the Defense Department and the Navy both refocus on high-intensity, high-tech warfighting against “great powers” — i.e. China and Russia.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter wants to cut the program by a quarter to invest in heavier warships, submarines, aircraft, and missiles. LCS critics charge the ship is only useful forpeacetime patrols and presence missions in low-threat areas. Navy leadership insist it can fight with the battle fleet — especially once it gets a high-powered sonar for hunting subs and long-range missiles for killing ships.

“LCS fits right in the middle of the modern warfight, great powers or not,” said the Navy’s outspoken director of surface warfare, Rear Adm. Peter Fanta, at last week’s Surface Navy Association conference.

Adm. John Richardson

“It is not necessarily as vulnerable [as people think],” said the more reserved Adm. John Richardson, the new Chief of Naval Operations, at a media roundtable during SNA. “It’s got survivability and lethality…. and it has a terrific role to play across that entire spectrum of operations” from humanitarian relief to major war.

“Would you want to send it solo against a high-end threat? Certainly not, but it’s not alone in that world,” said Richardson. His predecessor, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, spoke of heavy-duty Aegis destroyers providing anti-aircraft coverage and missile defense for LCS in high-threat areas — just as they do for aircraft carriers and other vessels.

“We fight as a team, and the Littoral Combat Ship has an important place in that team,” Richardson said. “It is our small surface combatant right now [for] mine hunting, anti-submarine warfare, and… surface warfare.”

Those three roles correspond to the three interchangeable “mission modules” being developed (with much delay) for LCS, which can carry any one of them at a given time. All three are arguably auxiliary missions, at least by comparison to the airstrikes, Tomahawk missile barrages, Marine landings and missile defense provided by capital ships. But all three have the potential to be pivotal in a major war:

• Mine hunting is a long-neglected role in the US Navy, currently relegated to aging MH-53 helicopters and Avenger minesweepers, even though mines have sunk or crippled more US Navy ships since World War II than all other causes combined. Ourpotential adversaries are well aware of the damage mines can do: Iran has at least a thousand, North Korea an estimated 50,000, China 100,000, Russia 250,000. “Minesweeping alone in my opinion justifies a big chunk of the country’s commitment in the Littoral Combat Ship program,” Rep. Joe Courtney, top Democrat on the House seapower subcommittee, told SNA.
• Submarines are another rising threat, with Chinese and Russian fleets growing larger and more advanced. Aegis destroyers have significant anti-submarine warfare capacity, but both the baseline LCS (with the ASW module) and the future LCS frigate(when configured for ASW) will have something destroyers don’t: a “continuous active sonar” with a range in the tens of miles and a “variable depth” feature for finding deep-diving subs. Of course, you could theoretically retrofit these same sensors on a destroyer. But you can buy four LCS for the price of one Arleigh Burke, and when sub-hunting you want to be looking in as many places as possible at once.
• Finally, and perhaps most problematically, the Littoral Combat Ship has its “surface warfare” module. This was originally optimized to fight small boats — “fast attack craft” and “fast inshore attack craft” — of the fast-moving, hard-hitting, but painfully fragile kind favored by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. That put a premium on relatively short-ranged, quick-firing weapons like 57 millimeter and 30 millimeter cannon.

The LCS Coronado test-fires a new anti-ship missile from Norway’s Kongsberg.

By contrast, the Navy is still struggling to find an anti-ship missile for the LCS, with stopgaps like the Griffin and Longbowhaving only about a five-mile range. Compare the Russian frigate and corvettes — mostly smaller than LCS — which fired missiles from the Caspian Sea a thousandmiles overland into Syria. LCS will probably never achieve that range because the Navydecided against installing its standard multi-purpose missile launcher, the versatile but bulky Vertical Launch System. Instead, the Navy is seeking a mid-range “over the horizon” missile. “We are pushing forward to install over the horizon missiles on LCS this year,” said Fanta.

Rear Adm. Peter Fanta

Once the three modules and the new missile are in service, “LCS fits right in the middle of the modern warfight, great powers or not,” Fanta said.” LCS is perfectly capable of adding the anti-submarine capability, the missile capability, the counter-surface capability, the countermine capability,” Fanta said. “All those missions are part of the warfight. They’re not just part of skirmishes someplace.”

In fact, Fanta frequently says that LCS with medium-range missiles can “put entire enemy fleets on the bottom of the ocean.” Being smaller and less robust than destroyers, the Littoral Combat Ships do take losses along the way, Fanta admits, but in wargames the small warships converge on the enemy in overwhelming numbers, like piranhas.

In a 2014 Navy wargame where LCS was upgraded with medium-range missiles, participantBryan McGrath told Congress, “those ships were no more capable of taking a punch than they previously were; they were capable only of delivering a punch.” But that alone radically changed the adversary’s “risk calculus,” he said.

Once the Littoral Combat Ships got upgunned, the enemy commander could no longer afford to ignore them, explained McGrath, a naval expert and former destroyer commander himself. As a result, enemy intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets were stretched trying to track all the little but lethal LCS. Enemy decision-makers had to confront an additional danger on every mission, potentially deterring them from aggression altogether. Turning LCS from an auxiliary to a ship-killer literally multiplied the enemy’s problems.

That said, this concept — part of what the Navy calls “distributed lethality” — is very much a work in progress. And there are limits to what even a future LCS can do.

The LCS will never be able to do significant air defense, let alone missile defense, unless the Navy reconsiders its decision not to add a Vertical Launch System. (Interestingly, Lockheed has designed a VLS-equipped variant of LCS that got serious consideration from Saudi Arabia). Nor will it ever be as survivable in the face of battle damage as a destroyer more than twice its tonnage and four times its cost. And the LCS will always have less room for weapons, sensors, and other mission systems than foreign ships its size because of its massive engines, which allow a 40-plus-knot top speed for which tacticians have never fully figured out a use.

All that said, the LCS is still a young ship with both teething troubles and potential for growth. “Our CONOPS will continue to evolve as we send this ship to sea. Every single time we build a new ship we discover new things we can do with it,” Fanta told the Surface Navy Association.

Then, to applause, the admiral quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”

South China Sea tensions surge as China lands plane on artificial island

BEIJING: China’s first landing of a plane on one of its new island runways in the South China Sea shows Beijing’s facilities in the disputed region are being completed on schedule and military flights will inevitably follow, foreign officials and analysts said.

China’s increasing military presence in the disputed sea could effectively lead to a Beijing-controlled air defense zone, they said, ratcheting up tensions with other claimants and with the United States in one of the world’s most volatile areas.

Chinese foreign ministry officials confirmed on Saturday that a test flight by a civilian plane landed on an artificial island built in the Spratlys, the first time Beijing has used a runway in the area.

Vietnam launched a formal diplomatic protest while Philippines Foreign Ministry spokesman Charles Jose said Manila was planning to do the same. Both have claims to the area that overlap with China.

“That’s the fear, that China will be able take control of the South China Sea and it will affect the freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight,” Jose told reporters.

China has been building runways on the artificial islands for over a year, and the plane’s landing was not a surprise, although it will almost certainly increase tensions.

The runway at the Fiery Cross Reef is 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) long and is one of three China was constructing on artificial islands built up from seven reefs and atolls in the Spratlys archipelago.

The runways would be long enough to handle long-range bombers and transport craft as well as China’s best jet fighters, giving them a presence deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia that they have lacked until now.

Work is well underway to complete a range of port, storage and personnel facilities on the new islands, U.S. and regional officials have said.

Fiery Cross is also expected to house advanced early warning radars and military communications facilities, they said.

Chinese officials have repeatedly stressed that the new islands would be mostly for civilian use, such as coast guard activity and fishing research.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at the weekend that the test flight was intended to check whether the runway met civilian aviation standards and fell “completely within China’s sovereignty”.

Leszek Buszynski, a visiting fellow at the Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, said he believed military landings on the islands were now “inevitable”.

An air defense zone, while unlikely soon, was feasible and possible in future once China’s built up its air strength.

“The next step will be, once they’ve tested it with several flights, they will bring down some of their fighter air power – SU-27s and SU-33’s – and they will station them there permanently. That’s what they’re likely to do.”

De Facto Defence Zone

Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert at Singapore’s ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, said he expected tensions to worsen as China used its new facilities to project power deeper into the South China Sea.

Even if China stopped short of formally declaring an Air Defence Identification Zone, known as an ADIZ, Beijing’s need to protect its new airstrips and other facilities could see it effectively operating one.

“As these facilities become operational, Chinese warnings to both military and civilian aircraft will become routine,” Storey said.

“These events are a precursor to an ADIZ, or an undeclared but de facto ADIZ, and one has to expect tensions to rise.”

Hua, the Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, said on Monday that there were no immediate plans for an ADIZ in the South China Sea.

“As for whether China will establish an ADIZ, the decision will be based on our judgment of the situation and our needs,” she aid, adding that Beijing respected other nations’ rights to international freedoms of navigation and overflight.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of world trade ships every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

The United States has no claim in the South China Sea, but has been highly critical of China’s assertiveness and says it will protect freedom of navigation.

China sparked condemnation from the United States and Japan in late 2013 when it declared an ADIZ over the East China Sea, covering uninhabited islands disputed with Tokyo.

Chinese officials have reserved their right to do the same in the South China Sea but have said the conditions do not warrant one yet.

However, regional military officials say they are logging increased warnings to aircraft from Chinese radio operators, including some from ground stations on Fiery Cross reef.

-Reuters

Vietnam protests after China lands plane on disputed Spratlys

January 3, 2016

HANOI: Vietnam formally accused China of violating its sovereignty and a recent confidence-building pact on Saturday by landing a plane on an airstrip Beijing has built on an artificial island in a contested part of the South China Sea.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said the airfield, had been “built illegally” on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly archipelago, in territory that was “part of Vietnam’s Spratlys”.

China’s Foreign Ministry rejected the complaint, saying that what was a test flight to the newly built airfield on the reef, which China calls Yongshu Jiao, was a matter “completely within China’s sovereignty,” the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.

The United States said it was concerned that the flight had exacerbated tensions.

Washington has criticized China’s construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea and worries that Beijing plans to use them for military purposes, even though China says it has no hostile intent.

Pooja Jhunjhunwala, a spokeswoman for the US State Department, said there was “a pressing need for claimants to publicly commit to a reciprocal halt to further land reclamation, construction of new facilities, and militarization of disputed features.”

“We encourage all claimants to actively reduce tensions by refraining from unilateral actions that undermine regional stability, and taking steps to create space for meaningful diplomatic solutions to emerge,” she said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China used a civil aircraft to conduct the flight to test whether the airfield facilities meet civil-aviation standards.

“China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters. China will not accept the unfounded accusation from the Vietnamese side,” she said, referring to the Spratly’s by their Chinese name.

Hua added that China hoped Vietnam could work to achieve “sustainable, healthy and stable” development of bilateral ties.

Hanoi’s Foreign Ministry said Vietnam handed a protest note to China’s embassy and asked China not to repeat the action.

It called the flight “a serious infringement of the sovereignty of Vietnam on the Spratly archipelago”.

China claims almost all the South China Sea, which is believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas, and through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year, and has been building up facilities on the islands it controls.

It completed an airfield on Fiery Cross Reef that security experts say could accommodate most Chinese military aircraft late last year.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan also have rival claims in the South China Sea.

– Reuters

In command of our seas

star Sunday, 27 December 2015

THE world is changing fast, and so are the security challenges and issues facing our Royal Malaysian Navy.

The new chief of the RMN, however, is taking everything in his stride.

“The Navy must adapt. The security threats are redefining the way we manage modern armies,” Admiral Datuk Seri Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin tells The Star at his office in Wisma Pertahanan.

Likening himself to the captain of a ship, Admiral Ahmad Kamarulzaman who was appointed the 16th RMN chief in November, says the captain and the ship, in this case the Navy, would have to operate as one to meet its goal to be a world class Navy.

“However, I always look at challenges as opportunities.” he notes, stressing that his appointment is a huge responsibility that he will work hard to fulfil.

When did you join the Navy?

In 1977, 38 years now. Thirty eight years of exciting, exhilarating, challenging years. I am blessed to be in the Navy these many interesting years. For me, personally, it has been a very enriching experience. I wouldn’t want it any other way. Come to think of it, I was a cadet with the RMC (Royal Military College) and here I am at the helm of the RMN.

What was the first thing that came across your mind when you were appointed Navy chief?

I was like, is this real? Thank God, it is. For a navy person, that is the pinnacle of achievement. I have not known anything else but wearing the Navy uniform with pride and honour for almost four decades. But with the appointment comes a very heavy responsibility.

I would like to look at it as amanah (trust) that is entrusted upon me. In Islam,amanah is something that one will be made accountable to God for his deeds.

The way I look at it, the position of the Chief of the Navy is not a privilege, it is in fact a burden of trust. I’m merely the captain of a ship. The Navy is an institution, not unlike a ship, and the Navy People are the ship’s crew.  

I am a believer in teamwork, more so in a ship that sails along choppy and dangerous waters at times - the Captain has to ensure discipline and to bring out the best in the people.

What is your plan or strategy for the Navy?

We are mindful of the changing dynamics in the world’s realpolitik, so too the security challenges of the day. The Armed Forces, and especially the Navy, must adapt. The security threats are redefining the way we manage modern armies. Our “enemies” too are evolving and adapting. There are simply too many challenges today to warrant a new thinking in how we manage our affairs.

It cannot be business as usual. Under current scenarios where regional territorial issues are becoming contentious, we need the Navy to be on an excellent state of preparedness. You ask me, are we perfect? We are not, but within that imperfections, we are thriving for the best. But I can assure you that we are fully-prepared and we are ever ready to face any challenges. Yes, taking that into consideration, the Navy has embarked on a comprehensive, strategic plan that extends up to 2020.  For now, I intend to ensure that we meet the objectives of the current plan known as PS1320 (Strategic Plan 2013-2020).

What are the main challenges facing the Navy today?

Modern Armed Forces, especially the Navy, need to be equipped with the best technologies – state-of-the-art, cutting-edge ones, if you like. We are not talking about the Chinese armada of the Ming dynasty or the ones that the English had during the sea battles at Waterloo against Napoleon Bonaparte. The battles for supremacy in the Pacific or the Atlantic oceans during the Second World Wars were part of the annals of great warfare.

But things are changing now. Technology is changing how we fight wars on land and in the sea. We have to equip our Navy with the best equipment and train our people to manage new methodology in warfare strategies. In short, we need money. Don’t worry about the morale. We have the best people with us.

To be honest, one of the immediate challenges that we are facing now is the fiscal one because of the global economic conditions that have impacted the Malaysian economy. It will affect the budget for the Armed Forces as well as the Navy.

However, I always look at challenges as opportunities. In this regard, the opportunity that I see is to adopt a firmer and more practical measures in managing our operational expenditures.  

The other challenge, is that we are managing an aging fleet. I must admit many of our ships are over 30 years - considered old by international standard.  Yes, we hope to replace them immediately.

But we do understand that it will have to be done in phases depending on our financial capabilities but we can’t wait too long.  

We have to understand that we have a huge area to protect because Malaysia is primarily a maritime nation. The East Coast of Sabah alone covers a shoreline of about 1,600 km. That is three times the length of PLUS Highway from Johor Bahru to Bukit Kayu Hitam.

Therefore, we have to look at innovative and creative ways to mitigate these challenges.

Can you name one of the innovative and creative ways that the Navy has taken?

There are many but one of the excellent example is the Sea Basing concept in managing the maritime security in the Eastern Sabah. We are proud of the outcome of the (sea bases) Pangkalan Laut Tun Sharifah Rodziah and Tun Azizan.

Before this, we had this constraint where our boats took a long time to respond to an incident out at sea because they are based in Semporna, Sandakan and Tawau.

Sometimes it takes the boats up to two hours or more depending on the weather conditions to arrive at the trouble spots from their bases.  

Now, with the sea bases out there, we have reduced the response time drastically.  The sea bases also provide deterrence to any would-be perpetrator wanting to come into our water. This concept was actually realized within a year thanks in part because of the personal attention given by (Defence Minister) Datuk Seri Hishammuddin (Hussein) himself. We are happy that Petronas is collaborating with us on this, based on the National Blue Ocean Strategy or NBOS.

The sea bases, one of which is a MOPU (mobile offshore production unit), has been converted into a platform that not only provides accommodation facilities but also many others facilities to support naval operation. This includes command and control functions, surveillance and interdiction capabilities.  It also provides logistical support to other agencies including the Army, MMEA, Marine Police. It now has enhanced the Situational Awareness in the area with 24/7 surveillance and also interdiction and interception capabilities with the interceptor boats operating from it. 

How many bases under the sea basing concept is the Navy operating and are there any plans to expand the concept?

Currently, we have two sea bases, Tun Sharifah Rodziah is the MOPU, whilst Tun Azizan is a converted container ship. We want to collect enough data and gather enough operational experience and feedback, which we will then need to study before deciding additional numbers and locations.

What is your vision for the Navy?

I want a world class Navy and a Navy that Malaysians can be proud of. I want a Navy that is battle-ready at all times. I want a Navy that has personnel that are trained in the latest sophistication and gadgetry as in any modern day navies. Nothing less will satisfy me. But I am a practical and pragmatic person too. We can’t have the best of everything, but we have to work hard towards that. We must build human capital capabilities that reflect our vision of the future. The Navy sometimes plays second fiddle to the other “brothers” in the Malaysian Armed Forces. Not many realise what our roles are. Sometimes we have been the unsung heroes among the uniformed brethren. That has to change too. We need to be more “joint” to achieve multiplier effect.

What about the people? Do you think they understand what you guys are doing?

I want a people’s Navy. That is why we want to reach out to the people on the need for them to understand and support us. The incursions in Sabah few years ago was a wake-up call. People realised we do need a credible maritime force. And the Navy is an equally critical element of this force in the defence of this beloved nation. I think after what happened in Sabah, people begin to understand us more than ever before. But, the defence of the nation requires more than what the Armed Forces or security forces could possibly do. The public can and should contribute as well.

Thus, we are engaging the people in other ways too. We have an initiative that we called the Inisiatif Bertanya Khabar (IBK). It is a very simple concept of engaging the public especially involving the maritime community.

We do things that look insignificant, but matter a lot to people. I look at this approach as small effort, high impact. Let’s say, we are trying hard to show a new face – a friendly face. It goes a long way when you are out there among the waves for fishermen and people on the move in the open seas. We engage people in small talks when we have the opportunity, perhaps even asking them if they have any problems and how we can help. They would then be our “eyes and ears”.

The RMN cyber team has been established to monitor its personnel in a bid to curb the spread of Islamic State ideologies. Can you explain further on it?

Future wars are to be fought by computers and technologies. I am a believer in that. And yes, the threat of IS is real. Then again, prevention is better than cure. We must explain to people why the threats are real. Why young people are radicalised. Why some convoluted “Islamists” - they are not fit to be called that anyway - are using Islam to kill and destroy others. This is not Islam.

Is the effort already ongoing and did you detect any activities?

Yes, we take such treats seriously from within and from without. It is our own effort in support of the other agencies to monitor and counsel our personnel. We are using all platforms available including KAGAT (Religious Corp in the Armed Forces) to spread the words of goodness in Islam. On the need to understand what real jihad is all about. The word itself has now being hijacked and abused thus bringing forth the negative connotation. In actual fact, “jihad” is a noble word to mean a fight for a worthy cause, in whatever endevours.

There is a number of military personnel arrested for their involvement in IS. How problematic is it for the Navy?

The number is small but just like a Malay saying: “seekor kerbau membawa lumpur, semua terpalit (A buffalo carrying a dirt will affect the entire herd). But when it involves the military or even the police, the perception is not good. We should be aware that the security personnel is a good target for the IS as we are well trained especially in handling of weapons and other military skills.

Personally, I don’t think it is a serious problem. But we cannot let our guard down.

There has been quite a few hijacking and piracy incidents in South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca. How is the Navy tackling the problem with the assistance of MMEA and Marine Police?

We are not denying it. We are in fact very concerned about it. In the Malacca Straits, it has been relatively safe compared to previous years. However, the number of incidents off the East Coast of Malaysia, in the South China Sea have increased over the last few years.

Obviously it is of concern to us. Even though it is under the purview of the MMEA (Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency) the Navy contributed significantly as we have more ships. But we now need to enhance our information and intelligence sharing not only with other agencies but also neighbouring countries.  We need to work together better as many of the cases are syndicated activities. So the solution may not be at sea but on land, thus requiring a concerted efforts, across agencies and across borders. 

The tension between the super powers in the South China Sea has been a hot topic lately, and took centre stage during the Asean Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM). What are the measures taken by the Navy to prevent unwanted incidents or provocation in the area?

I think people need to understand the issues better. When we talk about certain reports of foreign ship intrusion in our waters, we have to understand the definitions of waters. There is the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) which is up to 200 nautical miles from the coast or island.

The other is our Malaysian Territorial Waters which is up to 12 nautical miles. If ships, whether warships or any other ships, are transiting the EEZ, that is within the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). There’s nothing to prevent them from passing by or being around but as long as they do not do something to interfere or impacts our security and defence. The Navy, Air Force and MMEA will usually monitor their movements, but people should not be overly worry about it, unless it impacts on our security. The thing that we have to be concerned is when they encroach into our Malaysian Territorial Waters without approval or valid reason.

And we also need to understand that part of our EEZ are within the overlapping claim with few other nations. There is ongoing diplomatic process as the issues are complex. However, all the nations involved agreed that it should be solved diplomatically and not militarily, We have good relations with all these nations, politically, economically and well as socially.  

What is your hope for the Navy?

I hope the Navy will continue to be the pride of the nation and that we will strive to be better in delivering our services for the Rakyat. I also hope for more non-Malays to join the Navy and Armed Forces. I remember during my time when I joined the Navy, there were a number of non-Malays and we were all working as a team. We were all very high spirited.

We are so proud of them. But looking at the statistics now, not many non-Malays are willing to join the military. Thus, the Navy, is committed to support the 1Malaysia concept by getting more non-bumiputras to join the Navy. We are even going down to Chinese and Indian schools and using NGOs to try to engage the relevant communities in a more effective manner. Our Chinese and Indian officers are also doing their part to change these perceptions. This is a Navy that embraces all regardless of race and religion. This is OUR Navy.

New Chief has big plans for the Navy

The New Royal Malaysia navy's Chief

Hishammuddin (second left) witnesses the handing over of the duty between Abdul Aziz (left) and Ahmad Kamarulzaman. — Bernama photo

Admiral Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin is today formally appointed as the 16th chief of the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN).

Ahmad Kamarulzaman, who was the deputy chief of the RMN for about three years prior to his new appointment, took over from Admiral Abdul Aziz Jaafar who stepped down today.

Ahmad Kamarulzaman, 56, started his career in RMN on Feb 24, 1977 after completing his studies at the Royal Military College in Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur.

With 38 years of experience, he is a graduate of the United States Naval Staff Course at the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island and is a Distinguished Graduate of the Fu Hshing Kang College, Republic of China in Political Warfare.

He also has a Master of Business Administration from the University Of Strathclyde Business School, Scotland and a Master Degree in Defence Studies and International Relations from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Ahmad Kamarulzaman has also held several important posts in the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) including chief of staff, Army Headquarters and Joint Forces Commander.

In addition, he had also held the post of Armada Commander based in Lumut, Perak and Sea Region 2 Commander, based in Teluk Sepanggar, Sabah.

The rank conferring ceremony and handing over of duty took place at the Wisma Pertahanan Auditorium in Kuala Lumpur, witnessed by Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and ATM chief Gen Zulkifeli Mohd Zin.

Ahmad Kamarulzaman tendered his highest appreciation to the Malaysian government specifically Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak (at the trust placed upon him).

“I will hold this trust placed upon me with full integrity,” he said.

Meanwhile, Vice-Admiral Anuwi Hassan, who had been serving in RMN since February 1978 was appointed deputy chief of RMN.

- Bernama

VICE ADMIRAL DATO' ANUWI BIN HASSAN

Deputy Chief of Navy