GEMAS: Army Chief, Tan Sri Zulkiple Kassim said, the training session is not to compete with other countries but merely for the army students` knowledge as how to plan a tactical programme in a battle field.
“The training demonstration exposes military students and master degree students from the police team (on invitation) to the concept of the usage of military arms and the true picture when armed forces’ power is used in a “crisis” and its effects to the enemies.
“If viewers via social media feel that their countries have more updated weaponry systems, then we have to say that the demonstration is not an “arms race”.
“The weapons used in a country depend on the geographical factors and their requirements. As for Malaysian Armed Forces we buy weapons depending on the needs and our affordability,” Zulkiple said to a question of netizens’ comments on the Malaysian weaponry systems used in the previous demonstrations.
Some of the viewers commented that “the military weapons used in their countries are much more advanced and some said that the Malaysians’ military assets are more sophisticated and modern.
On the question of RM17 million incurred in the weaponry demonstration and regarded as too costly by the public, Zulkiple said, as usual the military training uses a big budget as all the assets are very expensive.
“The budget will still be used in the military weaponry training session even though it is not exposed to the media/public. The military training is not just doing the running exercise but how to handle a weapon and its effectiveness on the targets in a battle field.
The expenses used this year was lesser compared to RM23 million spent in the same demonstration in 2017 at the Gemas Shooting Range, Syed Sirajuddin Camp.
Zulkiple said, in the previous demonstration more missile rockets were launched and many more assets have been used.
In yesterday’s (Thursday) military training session, 32 types of weapons and assets belonging to the Malaysian Army and Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) were used with the involvement of 222 officers and 1,898 military staff. –Malaysia World News.
