Rear Admiral Abdul Rahman Ayob said he was satisfied with the readiness of the fleet and its crew in facing off any situation at sea.
“It is important that we are ready for any eventuality and threats, especially in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (EssZone) in the state’s east coast.
“Yesterday, we finished an exercise for our fleet and I’m satisfied with the level of preparedness,” he told FMT.
According to the rear admiral, Mawilla 2 completed the second series of its Borneo War Exercise at Sulu Sea.
The exercise involved five navy ships — the KA Tun Azizan, KD Todak, KD Baung, KD Sri Johor and KD Sri Perlis — as well as the CB90 assault boat and Silverbreeze intercept boat.
The KA acronym represents “auxilliary ship”, as opposed to the main fleet of “royal ships”, KD.
“This was our first exercise this year and second one after the relocation of our fleet from Kota Kinabalu,” said Rahman, who participated in the exercise aboard the KD Todak.
The EssZone spans 1,700km of coastline of Sabah that faces conflict-prone southern Philippines.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte recently announced that Malaysian and Indonesian security agencies, including their navies, can now enter his country’s waters in hot pursuit of criminals.
The EssZone encompasses land and maritime areas, partly covering the Sulu and Celebes Seas, well-known as a hotspot for kidnappings and sea-jackings by trans-border criminal groups from southern Philippines.
Security at the EssZone was at its highest level during the five-month Marawi war between Philippine troops and pro-Islamic State groups amid concern that militants would flee to Sabah.
Thanks to efforts by the Eastern Sabah Security Command (EssCom), which is in charge of security in the EssZone, no incidents of kidnapping and robberies were recorded last year.
We train hard, fight easy, says Eastern Sabah Security Command chief
Stay current - Follow FMT on WhatsApp, Google news and Telegram