KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 — The Ministry of Defence will not compromise on any form of intrusion at the country’s borders whether at sea, land or air in line with the Defence White Paper.
Its deputy minister Adly Zahari said Malaysia would take advantage of defence diplomacy in raising the issue of aggression such as the intrusion by foreign fishermen or the country’s airspace.
“Multilateral cooperation through Asean, sub-regional cooperation and bilateral cooperation are among the best approaches in managing traditional and non-traditional security issues that require the involvement of various parties at the government, military and enforcement agency levels.
“All of these are important components of partnership strategy are found in the National Defence White Paper in defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said during a question-and-answer session at Dewan Negara today.
Adly was responding to a query from Senator Datuk Ahmad Azam Hamzah, who wanted the Minister of Defence to state to what extent the solidarity of the Asean countries is able to ensure the peace of the region from the intervention of world powers.
He also wanted to know the efforts among neighbouring countries on the issue of fishermen’s intrusion in the South China Sea so that the safety and interests of the border are secured.
The deputy minister said Asean is currently engaging through various multilateral platforms such as Asean Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) and ADMM Plus with Asean dialogue partners, namely the United States, Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Korea, Russia, and the Asean Regional Forum.
The engagement is to strengthen cooperation and build confidence among member countries in an effort to reduce tension and avoid conflict in the Southeast Asian region.
Replying to a supplementary question from Senator Datuk Noraini Idris regarding the government’s measures to ensure that air space invasion does not occur, Adly said the Ministry of Defence has certain procedures in place in the event of such an incident.
“If our airspace is invaded, one of them is to communicate with the intruder and we have several procedures on intercepting such aircraft,” he said.
— Bernama
