Hisham: 40% personnel recruitment for 31st border brigade completed

KUCHING: Almost 40% of personnel for the 31st Border Brigade, set up under the First Malaysian Infantry Division to boost security control along the Sabah and Sarawak border areas, had been recruited early this year.
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein (pix) said the recruits included 499 Sarawakians currently undergoing training at the Junaco Park PLKN Camp in Sibu.
The new recruits are expected to complete their training by the year-end.
He said efforts were being made to get more recruits to fill another 1,000 vacancies in the brigade.
To enhance the brigade, the ministry, through the army, would build a camp in Bintulu to serve as its headquarters and to place the Border Regiment battalion, he told reporters at an event with senior non-commissioned officers at the Kuching Air Base today.
Hishammuddin said the Border Brigade headquarters, when ready, would carry out the secondary task of monitoring important targets such as the dams in Bakun, Murum and Baleh.
The ministry, he said, also planned to build five additional joint posts (POSGAB) and 18 army posts at the borders between Sabah/Sarawak and Kalimantan, Indonesia.
"Currently, there are eight POSGABs, which are insufficient for effective monitoring.
"For the long term, 18 strategic locations along the borders, comprising 15 in Sarawak and three in Sabah, have been identified for the building of new posts," he added.
Hishammuddin said the ministry also planned to set up a Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) base in Bintulu.
He said several matters had been agreed upon at a meeting between the ministry and Bintulu Development Authority (BDA) to realise the naval base project, where for the short-term plan, BDA agreed to provide the space and facilities for a RMN unit at Bintulu Port.
On his courtesy call on Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem yesterday, Hishammuddin said they discussed, among others, matters pertaining to defence and security in Sarawak, as well as the welfare of veteran soldiers and the proposed RMN base in Bintulu. — Bernama