KUALA LUMPUR – With Putrajaya slated to present Budget 2025 to the Dewan Rakyat next week, experts hope to see allocations for upgrading and improving the nation’s defence capabilities in light of escalating hostilities in the Middle East and heightened tensions in the South China Sea.
Geostrategist and senior fellow at the Nusantara Strategic Research Academy Azmi Hassan suggested that Malaysia should consider beefing up naval infrastructures given China’s growing presence in the South China Sea.
Noting that the public has expressed anxiety over the matter, Azmi said that Malaysians hope the country would ensure our naval assets would be on par with those from China’s coast guard who were rumoured to have encroached into Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone last month.
In August, an incident involving the sinking of Royal Malaysian Navy’s 40-year-old gunboat KD Pendekar saw Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin pointing out that 10 to 15 Malaysian military vessels are over four decades old.
Malaysia does have a total of five littoral combat ships under construction, one of which is expected to be operable in 2026.
In addition to improving Malaysia’s naval assets, Azmi said the country would also benefit by emphasising the social well-being of our military personnel.
“I think it would be apt to improve the welfare of our soldiers by improving their housing and increasing their allowance.
“This could also extend to police personnel who are also involved with the nation’s defence.
“I’ve seen when it comes to housing, some are living in almost dilapidated housing quarters which is unsuitable for those putting their lives on the line for our country.
“By showing we care about them, we can boost their morale,” Azmi told Scoop.
Meanwhile, taking into account the evolving landscape of warfare, Universiti Teknologi Mara Media and Information Warfare Studies Centre security and political analyst Noor Nirwandy Mat Noordin was of the view that defence allocations in Budget 2025 should also look beyond tangible military assets.
Particularly, Nirwandy says emphasis should be placed on systems that would give defence agencies measurement and signature intelligence capabilities which would allow detection of missile launches.
“Additionally, with intangible defence assets such as software, we would be able to also detect psychological warfare threats. You would need upgraded software for this.
“Another thing to consider is possibly building our capability to create this software ourselves,” Nirwandy added.
Taking a different view, Centre for Global Peace Solutions director Captain Martin A. Sebastian suggested that problems with the Malaysian Armed Forces do not lie with the assets, but with governance.
Suggesting possible poor management of funds within the defence sector, he urged the government to stop spending on procuring assets which have not been delivered on time, or at all.
Instead, Martin said, Putrajaya could consider channelling funds into developing assets which would allow the country to build homegrown machinery such as ships.
When asked if Malaysia should also begin looking to the US and Western countries for military assets given Putrajaya tends to purchase Russian or Asian equipment, Martin answered in the negative.
He pointed out that American military products tend to come with a set of restrictions.
“We are not only talking about buying the best but also maintaining the best.
“If you want to compare with Singapore (which purchases US weapons), they do technology transfers and collaborations which would beef up the local defence industry,” Martin added. – October 12, 2024