ALOR SETAR, Dec 9 — The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) has not set any quota for the intake of women pilots, said RMAF chief Gen Tan Sri Mohd Asghar Khan Goriman Khan.
He said women have ample opportunities to join the team as pilots and they only need to meet the requirements and qualifications, in addition to passing the stipulated tests.
“The involvement of women as pilots depends on the intake of women in the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF), they must pass the qualifications, must pass the health checks 100 per cent as we want and pass all the required altitude tests.
“Everything is equal for men and women, no discrimination, whoever is qualified, meets the requirements and passes the flight tests, he or she qualifies and that is good for them,” he told reporters here today.
He said this after the presentation of pilot wings for the Basic Flight Course Series 84/22 and Basic Helicopter Flight Course Series 64/22 at the Air Force College here.
A total of 26 trainees from Institut Penerbangan 1 (Inspen 1) and Inspen 2, comprising 18 fixed-wing aircraft trainee pilots and eight helicopter trainee pilots, received their wings at the ceremony.
Mohd Asghar Khan also urged women who continued their further studies at Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) or other institutions of higher learning to join the MAF.
According to him, the current intake of women in the country’s defence force was still low, adding that the force offered various other fields including engineering and mechanical.
“We have many applications to join the MAF but most of them are graduates from UPNM. For certain fields, we may need those from the legal department, for example, so we will take graduates from other universities,” he said.
— Bernama
