BY SEA, BY LAND: ESTABLISHING MALAYSIA’S OWN MARINE CORPS - Part 1

By M. Hanif Ismail

The local defence watchers have been arguing for the setting up of a Marine Corps for quite some time, although perhaps the sentiment is driven more by the sense of “keeping up with the Joneses” rather than any actual need.

However,  with the recent announcement by Malaysia’s new Defence Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, that dream is perhaps now closer to reality than ever before.

Many are linking this announcement to the Lahad Datu standoff. Perhaps it is, or perhaps it is driven more by the need to safeguards our claims to parts of the Spratly islands, as outlined in Peta Baru Malaysia 1979. This theory tie with another item announced by Hishammuddin, which is the setting of a new naval base in Bintulu, Sarawak. 

U.S LOSING TRUST FROM EUROPEAN ALLIES OVER SPYING ROW

By Yusni Yussof

 

President Obama and Chancellor Merkel

 ( Photocredit : Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

 

It is an open secret that nations spy on each other. Where every nation stands at equal footing and possess a similar level of sovereignty to others, there is nothing to stop them from spying. Information and intelligence gathered are vital to ensure that the state can see what’s coming. Its survival depends on it. The fact is augmented if we look at the global scenario through the Realist’s perspective. According to the school of thought’s framework of understanding how nations interact among themselves, power is regarded as the pertinent factor. 

Knowledge and information is power!

The questions are how deep and how far will states do it? It is naïve to suggest that nations will refrain from acquiring intelligence and information that will serve their objectives and their interest. Nevertheless, any state which want to spy on others, must be prepared to abide by the cardinal rule of spying- don’t get caught! Again, Do Not Get Caught doing it!

But if you do get caught, there are only few options left. You deny, cook up a convincing story or justify your actions with excuses that can hold water. But a denial from a hegemony like US sounds rather comical than convincing.

Whither the Security Guard Companies – Bank Officer Murder Opens a Can of Worms

By: Danny Liew Shan Lee

The robbery of Subang Jaya AmBank branch that resulted in the senseless murder of the branch operations officer has shocked the nation. The robbery may have netted the suspect, ostensibly from Jalan Apas of Tawau a total of RM450,000 (approximately USD143,300). But the repercussions of his action may see the security industry being targeted for industry-wide cleanup. 

Long being derided as a major exploiter of workforce by workers union, the industry has been almost continuously attracting negative news. The underpaid workers in the industry had been accused of nearly every crime under the sun. But this case it has reached a new low. Never before in a robbery by an armed guard that the guard had resorted to murder his charge. 

The fact that the cops were able to pinpoint that the murderer is actually a foreigner (believed to be from Sulawesi, Indonesia) using a forged MyKad (national identification document) and that he was issued a pump-action shotgun without proper vetting and qualification has now forced the government to bring the hammer on the security firm that employed the murderer.

2 MALAYSIANS, 2 US NAVY PERSONNEL ARRESTED OVER BRIBERY CHARGES

By DSGC Staff 

According to a US Justice Department release dated Sept 17, three individuals - a commander in the United States Navy, a special agent for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and the CEO of a multinational defense contractor - were charged in criminal complaints unsealed on the same date in connection with two separate bribery schemes.

The complaints allege that Leonard Glenn Francis, the CEO of Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd. (GDMA), paid US Navy Commander Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz and NCIS Supervisory Special Agent John Bertrand Beliveau II with luxury travel and prostitutes in exchange for confidential information and other assistance in relation to hundreds of millions of dollars in Navy contracts.

Francis was arrested in San Diego on Sept 16 and made his initial appearance in federal court on Sept 17 before US Magistrate Judge Karen S. Crawford. 

Somali Pirates Apprehended, Skiffs Destroyed by Combined Maritime Forces (CMF)

October 18 - A group of Somali pirates were apprehended and their skiffs were destroyed by the Combined Maritime Forces ( CMF)  Counter Piracy Task force , CTF 151 in the Indian Ocean . The CTF 151 staff embarked on RFA Fort Victoria coordinated the maritime interdiction supported by HMAS Melbourne and ROKS Wang Geon from CTF 151, European Union flagship HMLMS Johan de Witt, and a Seychelles based maritime patrol aircraft from Luxembourg.

It is reported that the task force was on hot pursuit of the pirates after the pirates attacked and exchanged gunfire with the supertanker Island Splendor on Friday. The same pirates were reported to have attacked a Spanish fishing vessel 3 days later. The search was fruitful as the pirates were located some 500 nautical miles from the Somali coast.

A Seahawk helicopter from HMAS Melbourne guided the warship to the location of the pirates. After locating the perpetrators, the warship’s armed and highly trained boarding teams made the final approach to board and search the skiffs. They successfully apprehended nine pirates and later destroyed two skiffs and associated pirate equipment.

Kiram III Is Dead, Claim On Sabah “Still Alive”?

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USA 0 China 1? - Post Debt Ceiling Crisis Impact on Malaysia

By: Danny Liew Shan Lee

The immediate threat of international financial meltdown of USA had finally been averted.  The last ditch effort paid off; Democrats, using the full force of media had put the blame on the fiasco on the Republican and the Republican House Leader did not want to go down into history as the main that destroyed the American Dream. 

Now that war in Obama's home front had been averted, what does that mean to the rest of the world.

1. USA prevents the international financial world from a meltdown - check.

1. USA gets another day to be the leader of the free world - check. 

1. USA gets to strengthen their influence in Asia Pacific - cross that out.

Cross that out?  Why cross that out?  Problem solved already, right? 

Wrong.  When the debt ceiling crisis started, US President Barack H Obama had to cancel his planned visit to Southeast Asia, with stops in Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta and sent his Secretary of State, John Kerry instead. 

Shocking! Police Lost 0.04% of its Guns!

The recently released Auditor General’s report for the year 2012 claimed that RM1.3 million worth of guns and police gear were missing. The missing items include: 44 firearms, 29 vehicles, 26 walkie-talkies, 22 radios and other equipment.

The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said that the missing guns could have fallen into the sea from boats and therefore could not be recovered and the Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi have also come forward to support the IGP’s statement saying that there “has been no misappropriation”. 

Answering the fears that the guns might have fallen into the hands of criminals, Khalid said that each firearm carries an identification code and so far the Police has not come across any report of the missing weapons being used in any crime.  

Kriss Vector Firearms - Reducing Recoils to Increase Accuracy

Over the years, one of the common discomforts experienced by enforcers, soldiers and operators is shooting recoil. Normally when a person pulls the trigger on any firearm,  the recoil force will slam back into the shooter’s shoulder, causing massive amounts of felt recoil and resultant muzzle climb. This felt recoil and increased muzzle climb will drastically reduce the accuracy of the operator and the time needed to re-acquire the target.

Introducing the Kriss Vector system;  developed by Kriss Arms over a 5-year period in cooperation with the US Army ARDEC Picatinny Arsenal.  While traditional firearms utilize a “straight-line” design that drives the action of the firearm directly toward the operator creating a substantial increase in the felt recoil and movement, the KRISS Vector overcomes the effects of the felt recoil by re-directing the blow back energy down and away from the operator.

North Korea's Fresh Warning Signals Escalating Tense in the Pacific

By DSGC Staff

Barely days after North Korea warned of horrible disaster in light of Japan and South Korea joint naval exercise with the US, today the republic  issued a fresh warning of an "all-out war", urging the United States to stop military drills and what it described as "nuclear blackmail".

In a statement released by the republic’s National Defence Commission (NDC),  the US government must withdraw its policy of hostility against the North if it wants peace on both the Korean peninsula and the "US mainland". In a statement carried by the North's official state media on Saturday, the National Defence Commission spokesman said the U.S. should stop sanctions meant to punish its February nuclear test and provocations including military exercises on the Korean Peninsula.

"(The United States) must bear it in mind that reckless provocative acts would meet our retaliatory strikes and lead to an all-out war of justice for a final showdown with the United States," a spokesman of the NDC was quoted as saying in a statement carried by Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency. 

"We emphasise again that the United States must withdraw various measures aimed to isolate and strangulate us. Dependent upon this are... peace and security, not only on the Korean peninsula but the US mainland as well." 

North Korea refused to sign a non-aggression pact that John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, offered last week on condition of denuclearisation. The statement follows North Korea strong criticism towards the joint two-day naval drills among the U.S., South Korea and Japan, which the allies said were aimed at improving readiness to maritime disasters. North Korea called the drills as a military confrontation, saying it is ready to foil any enemy provocation.