China keep monitoring Malaysia Maritime activities

China Coast Guard cutter 3307 is monitoring the activities of the semi-submersible drilling rig Deepwater Nautilus, currently operating near the Luconia Shoals (within Malaysia’s EEZ). A Malaysian Kedah class patrol vessel (KD Selangor) is also nearby.

by Ryan Martinson

@rdmartinson88

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Malaysian Navy lays keel for third LCS

Upacara Peletakan Lunas Kapal Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) yang ketiga daripada enam buah LCS untuk Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia (TLDM) telah dirasmikan oleh Ketua Setiausaha Kementerian Pertahanan ,YBhg. Dato Seri Abdul Rahim Radzi

The third Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Keel Laying Ceremony was officiated by the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Defense, YBhg. Dato Seri Abdul Rahim Radzi

Malaysian Navy lays keel for third LCS ‘Raja Mahadi’

The Royal Malaysian Navy held a keel-laying ceremony for its third Gowind-based littoral combat ship on December 18.

The ceremony which took place at the Boustead Naval Shipyard marks the official start of construction works.

The vessel is named KD Raja Mahadi and will bear pennant number 2503.

Also referred to as Second Generation Patrol Vessels, the six ships in the class are being built by Malaysian shipbuilder Boustead Holdings Berhad under a July 2014 contract with the Malaysian defense ministry.

The country’s first littoral combat ship (LCS) was launched in a ceremony on August 24, this year.

The six frigates were designed by French DCNS (now Naval Group) as a modified, enlarged version of the company’s Gowind corvette design.

At 111 meters in length, the frigates displace a little over 3,000 tonnes and have a complement of 18 officers and 100 sailors.

KD Raja Mahadi will be built under a modular concept in which several previously fabricated sections of the ship will be joined together to form a complete ship hull.

As the Royal Malaysian Navy’s prime surface combatants, the six ships in the class are set to carry the Kongsberg-built Naval Strike Missile, MBDA’s VL MICA missiles, a Bofors 57mm Mk3 gun in a stealth casing and an automated MSI Seahawk 30mm gun. For anti-submarine warfare, the ships will be fitted with J+S torpedo launcher systems, now delivered by UK-based company SEA.

Naval Today
Posted on December 18, 2017

FAT CMS LCS 1 telah berjaya dilaksanakan di Contraves Electrodynamics Sdn Bhd,

FAT CMS LCS 1 telah berjaya dilaksanakan di Contraves Electrodynamics Sdn Bhd, bukti kemampuan

rakyat tempatan tanpa bantuan asing.

FAT CMS LCS 1 was successfully implemented at Contraves Electrodynamics Sdn Bhd, CYBERJAYA proof capability of local competency without the foreign expert. 

Navy officials of Malaysia, India holds interaction

A visiting top Royal Malaysian Navy official and a senior Indian Navy official held an interaction here on naval cooperation, especially in the field of training between India and Malaysia, a defence release said here today. 

During their interaction yesterday, Chief of Southern Naval Command (SNC) Rear Admiral RJ Nadkarni has provided an overview of activities conducted by SNC to Vice Admiral Dato Syed Zahiruddin Putra Bin Syed Osman, Commander Eastern Fleet, Royal Malaysian Navy .. 

In the recent past, India Malaysia defence cultural and naval cooperation has enhanced exponentially, through increased number of ship visits, high level delegation visits (including between the respective Chiefs of Naval Staff) and training exchanges, it said. The Admiral had earlier attended the Goa Maritime Conclave held on November one and two, prior arriving Kochi. He and his spouse will depart from Kochi to Colombo tomorrow. 

by

PTI|

Updated: Nov 04, 2017, 10.13 PM IST

Malaysia Navy Commander Makes India Voyage

The commander of the Malaysian navy’s eastern fleet paid a visit to India’s southern naval command.

by Asian Defence

By Prashanth Parameswaran

November 07, 2017

Last week, the commander of the Malaysian navy’s eastern fleet made a visit to India, which included a trip to the Southern Naval Command in Kochi. The visit shed light on the ongoing developments in both naval cooperation between the two countries as well as the broader defense relationship.

Malaysia and India already share a defense relationship with a firm foundation. Key elements of cooperation in this area, including training, exercises, exchanges, and visits, were institutionalized through the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on defense cooperation back in 1993 and the subsequent setting up of a Malaysia-India Defense Cooperation Committee (MIDCOM) and then further developed over time.

Defense cooperation has continued to be advanced, including in priority areas like counterterrorism and cybersecurity. This year is a notable one for bilateral ties, with Malaysia and India commemorating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of their bilateral relationship and India and ASEAN celebrating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the ASEAN-India Dialogue relationship as New Delhi looks to build out the “Act East” policy being developed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which prioritizes deeper ties with Southeast Asian states.

From November 3 to November 5, Vice Admiral Dato’ Syed Zahiruddin Putra Bin Syed Osman paid an official visit to India’s Southern Naval Command (SNC) in Kochi before moving on to Colombo in Sri Lanka. His visit came after he had attended the Goa Maritime Conclave, which was held November 1-2.During Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s visit to India in April, both sides agreed to pursue several avenues to strengthen defense cooperation including setting up an aircraft safety and maintenance forum; increasing the scope and level of their current exercises; increasing information sharing on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) and white shipping; and concluding agreements on merchant shipping, combating terrorism and transnational crimes, and prisoner transfers.

During the visit, he met with Rear Admiral RJ Nadkarni, the chief of staff at SNC. According to a press release by the Indian Navy, both sides discussed various elements of naval cooperation but in particular touched on training cooperation. Training has been an important element of defense ties for decades, particularly in terms of Indian training of Malaysian air force pilots, and it remains a potential area for further strengthening ties.

The vice admiral was also shown around the facilities of SNC, including the Watermanship Survival Training Facility and the gunnery school INS Dronacharya, where he had himself undergone specialization training back in 1983. He also met four Malaysian naval officers currently undergoing specialization courses with Indian Navy at Kochi, a concrete manifestation of the bilateral defense relationship.

Malaysia relationship with North Korea :

Malaysia further downgrading ties with North Korea a year after airport assassination

Rauter FEBRUARY 13, 2018 / 8:22 PM

One year after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half-brother was assassinated at Kuala Lumpur’s airport, Malaysia is further downgrading once-close ties with Pyongyang, sources familiar with the government’s plans said.

Kim Jong Nam was assassinated on Feb. 13, 2017 when two women smeared his face with VX nerve agent - which the U.N. lists as a weapon of mass destruction. The women claim they were tricked into believing they were part of a reality show, but U.S. and South Korea say the murder was orchestrated by Pyongyang.

The brazen killing came as North Korea was starting to accelerate its missile tests and countries around the world came under mounting pressure to enforce ever-tightening U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang.

The repercussions from the killing are still being felt. Malaysia is considering reducing the staff size of the North Korean mission in Kuala Lumpur to four by not renewing requests to replace diplomats when their terms end, according to a diplomatic source and an advisor to the government. Both declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Malaysia is also turning down invitations to participate in North Korean events. A diplomatic source with direct knowledge of the situation said Malaysia declined an invitation to send an envoy to attend last week’s military parade in Pyongyang.

“It’s just too dangerous,” the source told Reuters, referring to the Malaysian diplomats North Korea stopped from leaving the country last year.The Malaysian foreign ministry declined to comment.Meanwhile, trade and business ties have all but dried up. A Malaysian businessman, who until recently imported coal from North Korea, said he stopped buying from Pyongyang - even before U.N. sanctions that banned all trade of North Korean coal - because the purchases were drawing a lot of attention after the Kim Jong Nam killing.

TRAVEL BAN

Ties quickly deteriorated after North Korea’s ambassador to Malaysia questioned the credibility of the police investigation into the assassination, insisting Kim Jong Nam was an ordinary citizen who had died of a heart attack.

Malaysia recalled its ambassador to North Korea, banned its citizens from traveling to the North and canceled visa-free entry for North Koreans.

North Korea retaliated with a travel ban on all Malaysians in Pyongyang, trapping three diplomats and six family members. They were able to fly out only after Malaysia agreed to hand over Kim Jong Nam’s corpse and send three North Koreans wanted for questioning back to North Korea.

Pressure from the United States has been mounting on Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries to cut trade and diplomatic ties with Pyongyang, as President Donald Trump seeks support for tougher action against nuclear-armed North Korea.

Malaysia said last year it was considering permanently closing its embassy in Pyongyang and moving North Korea services to its Beijing mission. It has not been staffed since last April after its diplomats were allowed to leave under the swap agreement.

The cabinet has yet to make a decision on closing the embassy.“There’s no turning back the clock on relations with North Korea, not after the Kim Jong Nam incident and the near impossibility of having any positive relationship with the country under such severe sanctions,” said Shahriman Lockman, a senior analyst with the Institute of Strategic and International Studies.“I think the sense is that North Korea took advantage of Malaysia’s goodwill and relative openness,” he said.

TRADE HALTED

North Korea benefited from its Malaysian ties -- Pyongyang exported everything from coal and medical devices to crabs, cloth hangers and fire extinguishers to Malaysia. Imports, however, came to a grinding halt last year. Malaysia was also host to hundreds of North Korean workers, who were sent back after the airport killing.

A Reuters report showed how North Korea’s spy agency, the Reconnaissance Bureau, was running an arms operation out of Kuala Lumpur.

The frayed ties have affected Malaysian businesses that used to trade with the isolated country.“We have been doing business with North Korea for 10 years,” said the Malaysian coal trader who declined to be identified. “Suddenly it became a big issue because of the murder,” said the trader, adding he was questioned by the police and the foreign ministry over a March purchase.

It’s a sharp contrast from 10 years ago when it was easy for Malaysian businessmen to engage with Pyongyang, he said. “I met the (North Korean) trade attaché and he arranged a shipment for me. That’s how I started,” he said.

The rocky relationship also remains in the spotlight with the continuing trial of the two women, Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam, in a Kuala Lumpur court on charges of murdering Kim Jong Nam.

The prosecution has built its case on airport video recordings of the killing and VX residue found on the women. Defense lawyers say the prosecution has not put forward a motive for the killing and argue the two women were merely unwitting pawns in the attack. The prosecution is not expected to finish presenting evidence until next month.

The women face the death penalty if convicted.

Reporting by Rozanna Latiff and A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Bill Tarrant

UK’s BAE Systems eyeing $2bn fighter jet deal with Malaysia

British weapons manufacturer BAE Systems says it has offered Malaysia a $2 billion financing deal backed by the UK government, in a bid to convince the Southeast Asian country to replace its ageing combat aircraft with British-made ones.

BAE, part of a European consortium that makes the advanced Eurofighter Typhoon jets, is hoping that Malaysian officials would accept the deal, as they are planning to buy up to 18 aircraft to replace the country’s most-grounded Russian Mikoyan MiG-29s, Reuters reported Tuesday.

The French company Dassault Aviation has also come forward with a competing deal to provide Kuala Lumpur with Rafale fighter jets. In fact, the French option was

To make the deal more lucrative, Alan Garwood, the Group Business Development Director for BAE Systems, said the company was willing to throw in training and local partnership while guaranteeing “lots of jobs.”

"We have an offer on the table...It's competitively priced and we have offered UK government financing so the Malaysian government can spread the payment over a longer period," Garwood said in an interview in the Malaysian capital.

The government of Prime Minister Theresa May has accepted to fund the deal through the UK Export Finance export credit agency.

The contest, which is one of the biggest aircraft contracts under consideration in Asia, has been delayed due to upcoming national elections in Malaysia and the country’s focus towards stepping up its aerial surveillance capabilities.

BAE, which leads the marketing campaign for Typhoons, jointly built with Italy’s Leonardo and France-based Airbus, expects Malaysia to make a decision after the elections, which must be held by August.

“I sense there is an appetite to move forward in the next couple of years,” BAE Systems Malaysia & Southeast Asia managing director John Brosnan said.

The deal is of special importance to both London and BAE Systems.

While the company looks to expand its Asian market to countries beyond the Persian Gulf region, May’s government needs to secure as many such deals as it can in order to keep the British economy thriving after its pending withdrawal from the European Union.

by PressTV 13/2/2018

BAE proposes UK gov’t loan to M’sia for Typhoon fighter jet deal

BAE Systems will provide Malaysia a UK government-backed financing deal if it decides to replace its fleet of combat jets with the Eurofighter Typhoon, senior company officials said.

Malaysia has for several years been weighing France's Rafale jet and the Eurofighter Typhoon, built by a European consortium including Britain's BAE, as it looks to buy up to 18 jets to replace its Russian MiG-29s - most of which are grounded.

The contest, potentially worth over US$2 billion (RM7 billion), is one of the biggest fighter deals under consideration in Asia, although a decision has been delayed due to upcoming national elections and a shift in Malaysia's focus towards upgrading aerial surveillance capabilities.

"We have an offer on the table ... It's competitively priced and we have offered UK government financing so the Malaysian government can spread the payment over a longer period," Alan Garwood, the Group Business Development Director for BAE Systems said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur.

"We can offer training, local partnership and lots of jobs," he added.

Financing would be provided via the UK Export Finance export credit agency.

BAE Systems, which leads the regional sales campaign for the Typhoon, is built jointly by BAE, Italy's Leonardo and Airbus. The company is looking to further a regional drive with the sale of its multi-role combat jet to Malaysia.

BAE believes Malaysia will arrive at a decision after the elections, which must be held by August.

"I sense there is an appetite to move forward in the next couple of years," BAE Systems Malaysia & Southeast Asia managing director John Brosnan said.

"We would like to see some progress made in the year after the election .... because governments tend to make this kind of decisions slightly earlier in their time in office than later," he added.

‘Window of opportunity’

Malaysia's economy has been on a recovery over the last year, after a few years of slow growth and a currency slide due to weak oil prices.

"We think there is a window of opportunity there with the strengthening economic position," said Brosnan.

BAE is in competition with France' Dassault Aviation - makers of the Rafale - which until recently was seen as the frontrunner.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said in March last year the Rafale deal was discussed during then-French President Francois Hollande's visit to the Southeast Asian nation, but that Malaysia was "not ready yet to make a decision".

Dassault was awarded a contract in 2016 to deliver 36 Rafale jets to India, and the company says it is still in talks to make additional sales to New Delhi.

Published: 13 Feb 2018    Modified: Today 9:28 am

HOSPITAL FOR ARMED FORCES VETERANS

Media release from Persatuan Patriot Kebangsaan (PPM-005-14-22052017)

On 6 February 2018. 6/2018.

HOSPITAL FOR ARMED FORCES VETERANS TO BE BUILT IN IPOH, PERAK AT A COST OF RM 500 MILLION MAY BE VIABLE

 

The New Straits Times dated 3 February reported that the government will build an armed forces veteran hospital estimated to cost RM500 million on a 28,500 square meter land belonging to the Malaysian Armed Forces at Gua Permai Camp, Tambun, Ipoh, Perak. No time frame for the completion of the hospital was reported, and should this project materialized, it will be the first ever dedicated veteran hospital to be built, the Defence Minister Hishamuddin Hussein mentioned during his visit to the proposed site. 

While veterans generally welcome the construction of the hospital, we at the National Patriot Association (Patriot) however wish to question the viability of the proposal, and to offer a proposition that we think could better serve the veterans; minimizing unnecessary administrative problems to them. 

Veterans are all over the country, and especially those of the lower ranks will be disadvantaged to travel the distance for a medical treatment because of age, and for some being physically disabled. It would be rather foolish for a veteran who had settled down in Johore, for instance, to travel to Ipoh for a medical treatment. Likewise, it would be even worse or absurd for veterans from Sabah and Sarawak to travel to Ipoh for a medical treatment. 

Rather than building the hospital in Ipoh, it would serve veterans better if the defence ministry builds a dedicated veteran medical unit alongside existing government hospitals that are found in all states. There are several advantages to this proposal. First, veterans do not have to travel long distances to visit the hospital since government hospitals are available in every state. Second, scarce medical resources could be shared between the government hospital and the veteran medical unit. Third, government hospitals generally have better medical facilities and the staffs are more experience in the handling patients. 

The Malaysian Armed Forces have hospitals at Camp Terendak, Malacca, RMN Base Lumut, Perak, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and Hospital Tuanku Mizan in Kuala Lumpur. Similarly veteran medical units could also be built alongside these hospitals, giving a much wider spread of dedicated veteran medical units all over the country that veteran could go to, rather than just the one veteran hospital at Ipoh, Perak. 

Patriot feels strongly that such medical services should also be extended to retired police personnel. They too served alongside the Malaysian Armed Forces in defending the nation. They deserved to be treated well and ought to be given equal treatment as that of their brethrens of the armed forces.

BG Dato Mohamed Arshad Raji (Rtd)

President, Persatuan Patriot Kebangsaan 

(PPM-005-14-22052017)

China Defence Strategy

Beijing’s militarisation of South China Sea

Tom Phillips in Beijing

Tue 6 Feb 2018 10.09 GMT

Beijing has been accused of building “island fortresses” in the South China Sea after a newspaper in the Philippines obtained aerial photographs offering what experts called the most detailed glimpse yet of China’s militarisation of the waterway.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer said the surveillance photographs – passed to its reporters by an unnamed source – were mostly taken between June and December last year and showed Chinese construction activities across the disputed Spratly archipelago between the Philippines and Vietnam.

Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have overlapping claims in the region.

The Inquirer said the images showed an “unrestrained” building campaign designed to project Chinese power across the resource-rich shipping route through which trillions of dollars of global trade flows each year.

Some photographs show cargo ships and supply vessels, which the newspaper said appeared to be delivering construction materials to the China-controlled islands.

Others show runways, hangars, control towers, helipads and radomes as well as a series of multistorey buildings that China has built on reefs such as Fiery Cross, Subi, Mischief, McKennan, Johnson South, Gaven and Cuarteron.

The Inquirer described the reefs as “island fortresses”. Bonnie Glaser, an expert in Asia-Pacific security issues from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, called the images “the most complete, detailed batch of aerial pics available” of China’s military outposts in the South China Sea.

Responding to questions about the photographs, the presidential spokesman, Harry Roque, told reporters: “[The region has] long been militarised. And the question is, what can we do?”

He reportedly added: “What do you want us to do? We cannot declare war.”

Opposition figures hit back, accusing Duterte’s administration of betraying their “sacred core duty” to defend their country’s territory.

Experts interviewed by China’s Communist party press also shrugged off the photographs, suggesting they showed mostly civilian installations.

“Civilian facility construction is the major focus of the South China Sea islands building and the portion of defence deployment is relatively small,” Chen Xiangmiao, from the state-run National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the Global Times.

Another Chinese expert, Zhuang Guotu, accused foreign journalists of “hyping” Beijing’s activities in the South China Sea, but added: “China has the right to build whatever it needs within its territory.” Zhuang claimed China’s military deployment was not for military expansion, but about defending its security and interests.

In December a report claimed China had created military facilities about four times the size of Buckingham Palace on contested South China Sea islands. 

Last modified on Tue 6 Feb 2018 22.00 GMT

Malaysia not affected by Trump’s aid threat over anti-Israel move

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 ― Malaysia will not be affected by United States president Donald Trump's threat to cut aid to countries that voted against Washington's move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the American ambassador to Malaysia said.

Malaysia had strongly protested the decision and voted, along with 127 other countries, at the United Nations general assembly last December in favour of a resolution rejecting US’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but US ambassador Kamala Shirin Lakhdir was quoted by Sunday Star as saying cooperation between Malaysia and the US were “ongoing”.

“To the best of my knowledge, with the programmes and work we do together, Malaysia is not affected,” Lakhdir told Sunday Star in an exclusive interview that was published today.

“I do not and cannot say specifically what the president was referring to, but to the best of my knowledge, the things we work on with Malaysia are ongoing”.

Malaysia does not receive aid directly, but receives support in the form of “sharing-costs” and joint military training that are partially funded by Washington, Lakhdir revealed.

Trump triggered global anger even from some allies when he defied advice against recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital by moving the American embassy there, a move analysts said had undone decades of efforts to foster peace in the region.

Malaysia responded with an official protest and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak openly said he would not let his “close ties” with Trump overshadow Putrajaya's position on the issue.

Lakhdir acknowledged this in her interview with Sunday Star, but said the two countries enjoy strong relations and suggested that it would not problematic to disagree on policies.

“I'm well aware that the prime minister, the Malaysian government and many Malaysians in general don't agree with the president's decision,” she said.

“I would say I understood that was going to be their decision. I think we are very good partners and friends, so we can have frank conversations when we disagree”.