KUALA LUMPUR: The Defence White Paper, (DWP) which was tabled in Parliament yesterday, will create more job opportunities for the national defense industry.
Security and Defence analyst, Datuk Dr Ruhanie Ahmad said the DWP would provide numerous job opportunities through the identifications of new technologies and fortify research and development (R & D).
He said through DWP the defence industry could be empowered and become a catalyst for development in boosting the national economy.
‘’This DWP is more open in nature compared to the National Defence Policy (DPN) which prior to this was more closed in nature.
‘’In addition, DWP can be accessed by the people and they can give their opinions in the effort to empower the national defence industry,’’ he told Bernama.
Yesterday (Dec 2), Minister of Defence, Mohamad Sabu tabled DWP in Parliament which would decide the national defence strategic objectives for the period 2021 to 2030 to protect the interests of Malaysia and defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Ruhanie said DWP was made based on the strategic outlook of the future which also placed cyber threats as among the priorities of the nation.
‘’The cyber threats have also become current threats. For example, the use of drones which had destroyed the oil processing factory Saudi Aramco (in Saudi Arabia) prior to this.
‘’The DWP is formulated to know the outlook and the forms of coming threats including cyber terrorism, cyber electronic and cyber war threats,’’ he said.
He said DWP showed the level of transparency of the government and its strong commitment to empower the national defence.
Ruhanie said the DWP would be very proactive in detecting any form of threat in the future.
Meanwhile, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities senior lecturer associate professor Dr Kuik Cheng Chwee said DWP would shape the national long term strategic objectives via the idea of placing Malaysia as a maritime nation.
He said DWP could attract the attention of the people and empower the (national) defence other than taking into account the needs of the military and non-military agencies.
‘’DWP is made by taking into account the views of not only government agencies but also academicians in providing the essences of the needs of DWP involving national defence,’’ he added. — Bernama
