Mindef To Make Malaysian Great Again - Defence Minister

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 (Bernama) – Efforts will be made by the Defence Ministry to strengthen the country’s defence with sophisticated assets, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and maritime surveillance aircraft' (MSA), said its minister, Mohamad Sabu. He said currently Malaysia was lagging behind in terms of its defence assets, compared with other countries in Southeast Asia, such as Vietnam and Indonesia. In the 70s, he said, Malaysia was among the leading countries. "But, I’ll work hard to make Malaysia great again,” he said during the Ministers’ Question Time in the lower house of Parliament or Dewan Rakyat Thursday. He was responding to a supplementary question from Danyal Balagopal Abdullah (PH-Port Dickson) on problems pertaining to acquisition of military assets by the ministry. Mohamad said the financial constraints facing the ministry also affected maintenance of assets, including fighter jets, by the Royal Malaysia Air Force (RMAF). "I don’t want to blame the previous government because it wil not solve the problem. We will think on how to strengthen our defence, because the Barisan Nasional (BN) government will not be back so soon. “This is our (Pakatan Harapan) responsibility. We will discuss with all the experts in RMAF, army, the Armed Forces chief and the acquisition division,” he added. -- BERNAMA