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We’re ill-prepared for new military threats
FMT | November 20, 2014



KUALA LUMPUR: An MP today called for a revamp of Malaysia’s defence policy to meet new threats, especially those coming from the South China Sea.

“The Defence Ministry must implement a 50:50 deployment ratio between the Peninsula and Sabah/Sarawak and a 35:35:30 split in resources among the Army, the Navy and the Air Force,” Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong told the Dewan Rakyat today.

“Currently too much resources are concentrated on the Army;yet the real challenges come from the seas if not the air. We need to beef up our Navy and Air Force.”

Liew, who is DAP’s Political Education Director, was speaking in the debate on the Defence Ministry’s budget.

He urged the ministry to involve MPs in formulating a new defence policy.
“It’s time for Malaysia’s Defence Policy to leave the Cold War mould and base itself on new realities in order to face the new threats, risks and challenges that are imminent,” he said.

“The threats during the Cold War were mainly from the Communists, land-based, and predominantly in Peninsular Malaysia. The threats in the second decade of the 21st century come from the seas, in particular the South China Sea and beyond.

“Yet, three out of the four Army divisions are in the peninsular and we have no Air Force Combat Aircraft Squadron permanently based in Sabah and Sarawak. The fact that during the Lahad Datu incident members of the armed forces had to be deployed hastily from the Peninsula is a clear reminder that the Cold War deployment strategy no longer works.”

He criticised the ministry’s intelligence unit for focusing on domestic politics instead of real military threats, saying the government must learn from the failure in gathering intelligence in the Lahad Datu case.

“Sufficient evidence points to the fact that the Sulu threat against Lahad Datu was first known to the Malaysian government in 2008 but no coherent response was formulated,” he said.

He also called for the reconstitution of the select committee to review the National Service Programme.

“There was a select committee for such purpose in the 2004 term but it did not complete its task before the end of that particular parliamentary term. No review by public involvement via Parliamentary Select Committee has since been called for that purpose.”

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/cat...itary-threats/