PUTRAJAYA OCT.28: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob received a courtesy call from Indonesian Minister of Defence, Prabowo Subianto on his one day working visit to Malaysia today.
The courtesy call was followed by a meeting with the Minister of Defence, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein at the Ministry of Defence in Kuala Lumpur. The meeting was held following a discussion via a video conference held on 4th October 2021.
Meanwhile, Hishammuddin in a statement said he and his counterpart had shared the opinions of strengthening the defence diplomacy for the safety of the region.
“On the defence cooperation, Malaysia and Indonesia have returned to have joint military trainings and among others are the KEKAR MALINDO and LINUD MALINDO and joint operation such as Sea Coordinating Patrol (PATKOR) and Air PATKOR.
“We also shared on the joint involvement on Health Services between the two military forces from both countries that have to be upgraded especially through the shared best practices relating to vaccines, treatment criteria and COVID-19 test approach,” Hishammuddin said.
The Minister said, on the Security Control Cooperation at the Malaysia-Indonesia borders, the armed forces namely Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) and Indonesian National Army (TNI) will strengthen the cooperation through the Joint Post operations.
According to Hishammuddin currently the joint operations between the Malaysian Army and TNI are Joint Posts at six locations that are focused at Sarawak-Kalimantan border.
On the border control, Hishammuddin said, Malaysia will be hosting the 42nd General Border Committee Malaysia-Indonesia (GBC MALINDO) meeting on February 2022. This meeting is important in the efforts to strengthen the security at the borders of both countries.
“We also agreed to continue to have joint training in handling the terrorists’ threats through LATGABMA MALINDO DARSASA that will be held next year in Malaysia.
The trainings will involve the three bodies in the military services and police team from both countries and both countries also agreed to elevate the cooperation via Trilateral Cooperative Arrangement (TCA) at the Ministers of Defence level from three countries.
“A Defence Minister meeting involving Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines will be held shortly to discuss the efforts to strengthen the TCA initiatives.
“Regarding AUKUS issue, Prabowo and I shared our opinions and our country’s stand where I have voiced out Malaysia’s stern stand that the formation of AUKUS is a worrisome as it has the potentialities to disturb the peace and stability in Southeast Asia.
“Is is also seen to have the ability to provoke the other powers to act more aggressively in this region especially in the South China Sea. As an ASEAN state, Malaysia and Indonesia should uphold the principle to retain the ASEAN as a peaceful, free and neutral zone (ZOPFAN),” he reiterated.-Malaysia World News
