Pesanan Mejar Zaidi: Jangan takut lapor polis...

Malays will lose out if RMAF base turned into art centre – Bernama

The proposed development of the current site of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) base in Butterworth into an art and recreational centre is a threat to the future wellbeing of the Malays in Penang.

Permatang Pauh Umno division leader Datuk Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said said the proposed project in an area covering 430ha would also affect the geopolitics of the Malays.

He wanted Prime Minister and Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak to intervene and shelve plans to develop the site.

In the speech when debating the presidential policy speech, Zaidi said the RMAF base was in the Air Tawar state constituency, which was won by Umno.

According to reports, the current site of the RMAF base in Butterworth would be developed into an art and recreation centre by a private company through a land exchange concept, whereby it would provide a new site for the RMAF base.

Zaidi claimed that the proposed project would also involve the construction of luxury beach homes. – Bernama, November 28, 2014.

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RMN's Missing CB204 Found, Seven Crew Safe - RMN Chief

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 (Bernama) -- The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN)'s combat boat CB90 which went missing off Pulau Mengalum in Sabah yesterday has been found and all its seven crew members are reported safe, said RMN chief Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar.

Abdul Aziz, who dislosed the development in his Twitter account, confirmed that the boat commander Lieutenant Azri Bakar had made a call via radio to inform that all the crew members were safe.

"Boat CB204: Lt Azri, boat commander informs KD Ganas via Ch16, boat and all crew members are safe but hungry. Alhamdulillah," he said in his Twitter account at 6.10pm Monday.

In a statement Sunday night, Abdul Aziz said the combat boat had left the navy base in Kota Kinabalu at 5am on Sunday before losing radio communication contact with another vessel at 11.15 am.

The combat boat lost contact with KD Paus while they were heading to RMN's 'Station Lima' at Terumbu Layang-Layang, Sabah.

Meanwhile, in Kota Kinabalu, a spokesman from the RMN base in Sepanggar said the seven on board the vessel - Lt Azri Bakar, BK PAP Charles Cristopher Muni, BM TMK Ince Ewin, BM TMK Steven Hudson Miso, BM JTP Nor Azuan Ariffin, LK KOM Sulhajji Daah and LK I PAP Azhry Maani - are all safe.

The spokesman added that the vessel which encountered mechanical problem (steering) was found about 30 nautical miles off Pulau Layang Layang after establishing contact with its crew at 4.15pm.

"A RMN vessel, KD Ganas is on its way to tow CB90 to the nearest station in Gugusan Semarang, Pulau Layang Layang," he said.

Malaysian Navy Combat Vessel Missing In Sabah Waters

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 (Bernama) -- A combat vessel of the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) with a crew of seven lost contact with an escort vessel as it headed to an RMN station on Layang-Layang atoll off Sabah, according to the RMN.

The CB90 type of combat vessel, assigned to operate from RMN Station Five on the atoll, lost communication with the escort vessel KD Paus during the voyage, said Chief of Navy Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar.

He said in a statement that the vessel, CB204, accompanied by KD Paus, left the RMN base in Kota Kinabalu at 5 am on Sunday and lost radio communication with the escort vessel at 11.15 am.

"The incident occurred during bad weather around Pulau Mengalum," he said.

Abdul Aziz said a search operation had been mounted by RMN assets, the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).

The crew of seven personnel on board the missing vessel was headed by Lt Azri Bakar, he said.

Female trainer assaults army recruit

The mother of an army recruit has lodged a police report that her son was assaulted by a female trainer.

PORT DICKSON: A 20-year-old army recruit was stomped on the face and beaten by a female trainer at the Armed Forces Training Centre in Port Dickson on Sept 9.

His mother, K Eeswary, 45, said her son told her about the incident which happened between 7.45am and 9am at the centre.

“My son told me the trainer stomped on his face and assaulted him during training,” she said.

Eeswary said her son joined the army on April 13 this year. She lodged a report at the Lukut police station this morning.

Earlier today, Port Dickson state assemblyman M Ravi arranged for a closed-door meeting with chief trainer Lt-Col Osman Ahmad, Eeswary and her husband.

After the one-hour meeting, Osman assured the parents that action would be taken against the trainer.

“We will take disciplinary action against the trainer for not following the Standing Operating Procedure,” said Osman.

Ravi urged to public not to speculate as the incident was purely a disciplinary issue and not racial in nature.

“The boy’s parents are satisfied with the explanation and assurance given by Osman,” he said.

The meltdown of Malaysian institutions

(TMI) – There was a time when Malaysia was known for its institutions – a civil service that facilitated rapid development from an agrarian economy to an industrialised one, a judiciary that was held in high esteem of the Commonwealth, and a military that defeated a communist insurgency.

Today, more than 50 years as a nation spanning from Perlis to Sabah, we see ineptitude and incompetency, a complete meltdown of Malaysian institutions.

The Attorney-General now farms out cases to an Umno lawyer; the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) leads an organisation which does not act when a High Court rules; the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) suffers a credibility deficit; and the air force has not covered itself with any glory.
So who do Malaysians turn to in time of need?

Not any of the above, it appears. Sad but true.

The saga of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared with 239 people on board on March 8, has confirmed what Malaysians have suspected for a long time. That there is not much meritocracy and thinking going on in the civil service.

The authorities, from the minister downwards, have yet to explain what happened in the crucial hours after MH370 was found missing. A CNN and BBC television report yesterday showed Defence Minister and Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein avoiding the question.

Can the civil aviation sector trust the DCA to do the right thing immediately after a flight vanishes from the radar screens? Why wasn’t the air force told that a jet was missing? Why wasn’t plane maker Boeing told immediately? Why didn’t the air traffic control respond to their Vietnamese counterparts when told that there was no contact with the Boeing 777-200ER that was on its way to Beijing?

Why the silence?

The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) also has to explain how it defends the country's airspace throughout the day. Yes, we have brave men and women in uniform keeping watch but a mysterious blip on the radar moving east to west was left unmolested.

Not even hailed by radio, let alone scrambling jets to check on the blip. Or even to ask the DCA and air traffic control if they were also seeing the blip.

Does the RMAF have fighter jets on standby? How many can fly these days apart from those used for parades, air shows and F1 races?

The IGP has decided to play marriage counsellor to a divorced couple rather than enforce the law after the ex-husband forcibly took away his son from the ex-wife's legal custody.

Does the IGP or anyone else in the police force know the law and the offence that was committed, or do they assume there is a conflict in the civil and Shariah law that they cannot take any action?

Can anyone cite religion and get away with a crime? How can people trust the police to enforce the law passed by lawmakers elected by the people?

Where is the Attorney-General in all of this? Is it more important for him to go to London to figure out who will have custody of the MH370 black box, once found, rather than stay back in the country and decide on whether to prosecute or take action against a man for abducting his child from his ex-wife's legal custody?

Or just outsource some jobs to an Umno lawyer - from defending the Registrar of Societies (RoS) in a judicial review brought by the DAP to prosecuting opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in his sodomy appeal.

Is the Attorney-General's decision to outsource some work a tacit confirmation and acknowledgment that there is no talent left in the A-G Chambers to do the work?

And is there any talent also left in the civil service, police force and military?

Malaysia's civil service was the envy of many – from working on poverty eradication and affirmative action policies to industrialisation and a respected judiciary and prosecution.

They did more with fewer resources and lesser people then. But they had quality talent back then.

These days, Malaysia just has bad jokes passing off as the civil service, police force, military and the public prosecutor. This is the meltdown of institutions that had shaped the country from its formative years to the Asian tiger that it once was.

It might take a generation to possibly set things right with these institutions.

Or is that just a hope that is fading as fast as the chance of hearing another ping in the southern Indian Ocean? – April 15, 2014.

Malaysia's First Military Airbus On Track To Arrive In 2015

From Haslin Gaffor

SEVILLE (Spain), Oct 3 (Bernama) -- Airbus Military is on track to deliver Malaysia's first A400M aircraft in 2015, with all four ordered by the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) scheduled to arrive by 2016, the company confirmed on Thursday.

Airbus Military Head of Media Relations Maggie Bergsma said the RMAF has been involved with the programme from the early stages and was fully participating with the Airbus Military team to prepare for the delivery and entry into service.

"As for all of our customers, the transition is a lap from older technologies to the ultimate technology of the A400M.

"Our A400M FISS (Full In Service Support) is designed to provide our customers with all services needed for the operation of the aircraft and we are already in discussion with Malaysia to ensure this is all set in place and in time for the delivery," Bergsma said.

The French Air Force was the first to receive the A400M, the world's most versatile military air lifter, designed to meet equipment needs of modern armed forces, in a ceremony held at the Airbus Military Delivery Centre, here, on Monday.

The A400M is able to perform missions that previously required two or more different types of aircraft, meeting the most varied needs of world air forces and other organisations in this century.

She said the entry in service of the A400M will mark a before and after in the way both military and humanitarian missions are approached.

"The versatility of the A400M allows one single aircraft doing the job for which previously up to three aircraft was needed. The A400M can deliver the contents of its bigger payload faster, further, and nearer to where it is needed than any other transport to be found in the market.

"The RMAF will not only have three aircraft in one with each A400M, it will have an aircraft that can do it better than these three ones. This is certainly a change. And it is a change for good," she said when asked how the new aircraft will complement the RMAF's existing fleet.

Asked about the company's cooperation with the Malaysian Government in developing the A400M, Bergsma said the Composite Technology Research Malaysia Sdn Bhd (CTRM) was participating in the design and manufacture of some of the aircraft's secondary composite structural components.

"CTRM is now the sole source of those components, notably the complete vertical tail plane leading edge, the main landing gear doors, and many access panels on the wings and horizontal tail plane, and some nacelle fairings," she said.

The A400M was launched ten years ago to respond to the combined needs of seven European nations regrouped within the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR). The countries are Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

The seven helped finance costs of the project, and Malaysia is the region's first export customer.

The A400M is able to perform both tactical missions directly to the point of need and long range strategic or logistic ones, and can also serve as an air-to-air refuelling "tanker."

Ex-Army Chief Rues Lack of Clear Chain of Command

There is no clear chain of command with regard to what is happening in Lahad Datu, says former army chief Gen (Rtd) Md Hashim Hussein.

When you have such a situation, Md Hashim said, there must be a clear command structure.

“This is needed to coordinate the operations. Right now, I think it is not there,” he said.

However, Md Hashim (right), who retired in 2002, admitted that a clear assessment of the ground situation was needed.

In contrast, he said, the Sauk incident in Perak was resolved in four days, with the right personnel.

“We managed to resolve it due to a clear command structure, clear orders, clear control, plus we had the right troops for the task,” he said.

The retired general also warned the government against using information war to blackout incidents such as what was going on in Lahad Datu.

“As for the information warfare that they use… What a tangled web we weave if we begin to deceive”.

Md Hashim also announced that he has officially joined PKR today and voiced his support for Pakatan Rakyat.

Formerly Malaysia’s ambassador to Pakistan, Md Hashim said he is attracted to the leadership of Anwar Ibrahim, who was his schoolmate in the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK).

“He has managed to harmonise Pakatan, all ethnic communities and Malaysia, and this is due to Anwar’s leadership quality,” he said.

“I find the Pakatan leaders have the right leadership qualities and can lead the country. I also verify the claims made by my former number two, Lt-Gen Abdul Ghafir Abdul Hamid, on the wastage and leakages in army spending,” he said.

‘Barracks and facilities in bad shape’

Md Hashim, who was first commander to the Malaysian batallion in Bosnia-Herzogovina, said he had gone to some of the army camps up north to verify the claims made by Abdul Ghafir.

He said he had seen that army conditions are indeed in a bad shape, including their homes, barracks, washroom and also armaments.

“There was a former senior airforce officer that reminded that there were no proper spare parts for aircrafts, however, this person had been admonished by the (BN) politician,” he claimed.

Md Hashim said he expected to receive brickbats for voicing his support for Pakatan, but assured that he had carefully thought about the matter after discussing with some of his former officers.

The former top army personnel said that the Pakatan leadership had been coercing him to make an appearance, and he thinks that there was a need to strategise his entrance into the party to bring the desired impact.

Over the past few weeks, several former armed forces top guns had voiced their support towards Pakatan.

Abdul Ghafir had even pledged, during a Pakatan convention, that the army will ensure a smooth transition should the opposition come into power after the general election.

'How can we be loyal to you if you're disloyal to us?'

(Malaysiakini) Armed Forces chief General Zulkifeli Mohd Zin today described those claiming that its rank-and-file had been involved in electoral fraud as an act of betrayal.

In an emotional statement issued this afternoon, Zulkifeli slammed those making the allegations and questioned their “loyalty” to the Armed Forces of Malaysia (ATM).

“The actions can be interpreted as treachery and it should stop immediately. The ATM is the nation's wall of defence that should be supported by all levels of the people, regardless of ethnicity, religion and political position...

“It is hoped that the ATM is not made a scapegoat by those seeking to advance their own interests... the people should show their support and appreciation for the contributions of the ATM.

"In this context: 'How can we be loyal to you if you are disloyal to us'?"

Yesterday, four ex-military personnel confessed to committing election fraud at a press conference organised by opposition party PAS.

The four - Major (Rtd) Risman Mastor, Kamarulzaman Ibrahim, Mohamed Nasir Ahmad and Mohd Kamil Omar - said they had marked thousands of postal votes in three separate general elections between 1978 and 1999.

According to the four, they were ordered by their commanding officers to mark postal votes for the hundreds and thousands of personnel who were out in the field.

Their expose yesterday was the second after an ex-army man came forward earlier this month, making a similar claim that he was ordered to mark postal votes for other military personnel.

'Irresponsible parties' misleading the rakyat

Zulkifeli countered the allegations, stressing that the Armed Forces has always respected the freedom of its troops to cast their votes, as enshrined under the Elections Act 1958 and section 16 of the Election Regulations (Postal Votes) 2003.

“The Armed Forces denies that there is any manipulation as claimed,” he said in a written statement, issued to the media at today's press conference.

“The voting process carried out by the Armed Forces is clean, transparent and professional without any interference by all levels of the Armed Forces' leadership.”

Zulkifeli also accused “irresponsible parties” of trying to sully the Armed Forces' image by “poisoning the minds of the rakyat and erode their trust and support” in the Armed Forces – which he described as “apolitical”.

In what appears to be an indirect attack on the opposition – which has been highlighting several allegedly dubious arms acquisitions by the country – he claimed that there have been clear efforts to leak out military secrets and to spread false information regarding the efficacy and capabilities of the Armed Forces' weapons systems.

“Such actions will not only expose military secrets to interested parties who want to know the Armed Forces capabilities, but even worse, it has shaken the confidence of Armed Forces personnel,” he said.

Additional reporting by Salhan K Ahmad.