KUALA LUMPUR: The Defence Ministry (Mindef) will ensure the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) continue to remain at the highest level of preparedness, besides also making certain the welfare of its personnel is taken care off.
Newly-minted Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (pix) said he was extremely satisfied with the Armed Forces’ current level of preparedness in safeguarding the nation’s sovereignty.
“However, there have been suggestions put forward for improvements in terms of preparedness of our defence forces.
“Besides this, the issue of welfare among the Armed Forces fraternity, including those who left the service, was also discussed.
“The relationship between the Armed Forces and the people was also raised and Mindef will continue to implement programmes for the people such building and repairing homes, bridges and gotong royong activities in line with its tagline ‘tentera dan rakyat berpisah tiada’ (the military and the people are never separated),” he said after chairing his first meeting as Defence Minister at Wisma Pertahanan here.
In another developments, Ismail Sabri said investigations undertaken by the previous government on the ministry’s projects will continue.
“Yes, I will proceed with investigations as how they were carried out by the minister before this,” he said.
Besides this, he said the Defence White Paper approved by the Dewan Rakyat in December last year will be reviewed for improvement purposes.
“It (White Paper) was approved in Parliament but there are views from several members of parliament that there is room for improvement.
“We will look into this and have a special briefing to discuss the Defence White Paper next week,” he said.
Also present today was Chief of Defence Force Gen Tan Sri Affendi Buang. — Bernama
