SHAH ALAM: Army getting more units. The Army is getting more units in Sabah – one infantry brigade, three infantry battalions, three artillery regiments, one armor regiment and one Air Wing squadron. The announcement of the units was made by Defence Minister DS Ismail Sabri during a visit to Sandakan on 11 September. It must be noted that the Army plans for additional units in Sabah have been in the works following the Lahad Datu incident in 2013, culminating with the standing up of 5 Division in September, last year. The division is headquartered at Lok Kawi camp in Kota Kinabalu.
The division now have three Infantry brigades – the 13, 5 and the new 32 based in Kalabakan, Tawau, near the border with Indonesia. The 13 Briged is headquartered in Lahad Datu while the 5 Briged is at Kota Belud. Apart from other support units, the new brigade will also have a new Royal Artillery regiment attached to it. Another artillery regiment in Lahad Datu is likely to be part of the 13 Brigade. The third one will be with 5 Briged.
Other new units involved a new Rejimen Sempadan based in Kalabakan while the new Army Air Wing squadron likely to operate the MD530Gs will be set up in Sandakan with a forward operating base in Semporna
Under the 5 Briged , two new infantry battalions will be set up – the 27th RMR and 11th Rangers – both units were previously deactivated during the Army restructuring in 2000. The two other artillery regiments will be based in Kota Belud and Kudat. It is likely that the 5 Armor which sprung up out of nowhere is the armor unit as it is already headquartered in Kota Belud with a detachment based in Tawau.
The Defence Minister did not revealed any timelines but it is likely that the initial cadres of thesee units are already up and running as had happened before. As for the equipment and infrastructures like camps and quarters, it is likely to be funded during the next 10 years. In the meantime it is likely as new equipment are delivered to the Army, the old ones will be reuse by these new units and not retired as assumed previously.
The release by Tentera Darat.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (267)
@ marhalim
The 3rd brigade of the 5th division to be stood up is basically the 32nd Briged RS. It is the same structure as 1st division sarawak, 2 infantry brigades, 1 border guard brigade.
The 5 KAD is around since last year, but as of now it is still a nucleus with just 1 sqn of lipanbara.
3 new artillery regiments? will this be something now or units transferred from semenanjung? My guess
1x 105mm towed (the current 6 RAD in sabah)
1x 155mm towed
1x air defence regiment??
then dedicated artillery regiments are also needed for 1 division sarawak.
IMO improving our forces in sabah and sarawak is a must, but great care must be taken not to stir up the status quo of deployed forces on the borneo island.
IMO we should not be the one who will start permanently deploying stuff like ASTROS or MBTs on borneo island. But things like more APCs, more air defence systems, 155mm howitzers would be fine as they are already similar units deployed in borneo.
Another thing IMO is for both 1st and 5th division to have a more closer engagement with brunei army. Probably annual battalion sized (or larger) exercises should be conducted in both sabah and sarawak together with brunei army.
Great. Sabah is highly contentious now especially the Philippines parliamentary foreign policy vommittee has declared Sabah as part of the Philippimes n granting Philippine citizenship to all Sabahans.
With this new provocation we need to beef up all 3 arms in Sabah especially on its Eastern flank mearest to the Philippines.
Its not now just the Sulu claim but a national claim from the very gov themselves.
We must also boost up our special branch work. And yes remember Kg Tanduo. A special branch operative has withheld info from his superior. The special branch must overhaul this very special branch to weed out Philippine symphatisers. The army intelligence must be sent there for covert work n a central intelligence agency set up to collate intelligence from all services.
The navy must now station more permanemt LMS ships in Sabah.
We must take the Philippine claim seriously. If need be we should recall our ambassador n send the Phillipine ambassador home too
Lee - “With this new provocation”
It’s not a “provocation”. It has everything to do with internal politics. It is yet another attempt on the part of certain politicians to
curry favour with voters in certain areas.
The average Filipino remains indifferent to Sabah; they have other more pressing matters to focus on. The only people who really have an emotional attachment to Sabah are what outsiders call the “Sulus”. Even they are divided in the issue.
Lee - “We must take the Philippine claim seriously”
We do. If we didn’t we wouldn’t be protesting and sending diplomatic notes everything the issue arises.
Lee - “If need be we should recall our ambassador n send the Phillipine ambassador home too”
“If need be” ...
At present there is no need to resort to such a move. We fully understand that what they do is driven by internal politics and that officially dropping the claim would be political suicide for the President. Also the latest measures are not the official policy of their government but moves undertaken by others.
As it stands our main external state on state concern with regards to East Malaysia is not the Philippines but with another neighbour...... This is a neighbour in which bullets actually came close to being fired on a number of occasions in recent years and also one which has acted aggressively including attempted ramming, throwing stones when ships were metres apart, entering our waters to seize and tow back our trawlers, etc.
Lee - “. The special branch must overhaul this very special branch to weed out Philippine symphatisers”
A lot of these people were born in Sabah and some were given citizenship by us. You have to take note that the vast majority of Tausugs who want Sabah as their own want it as an independent state; not as part of the Philippines.
Also take note that a lot of the issues we currently face there are also a consequence of previous actions/measures we took with regards to the Philippines and the civil war in the 1970’s; which was when when the bulk of refugees came over and were welcomed by us.
If anything the setting up of the new division is indicative of how time and resource intensive such an exercise is. The hardware is the relatively easy part. The hard part; especially for a all volunteer under resourced army is funding the needed manpower; not only for the combat but also the support and administrative elements. Lot of bureaucratic issues including promotions and other things at play. Takes times.
Not only will bases, camps and housing need to be organised and roads in certain areas constructed/improved but ideally; also a firing range which can handle 155mm.
Lee - “The navy must now station more permanemt LMS ships in Sabah”
In doesn’t necessarily have to be LMSs but patrols assets, including those from the MMEA. The main threat is still from non state actors. Not as if the Philippines is in midst of a military build up in the area.
on the Philippines claim of sabah
1) sultan of sulu once owned the eastern half of sabah (the western half was once part of Brunei), and Tarakan area of indonesia. what kind of hypocrisy is that they now are claiming the whole of sabah instead and is quiet about Tarakan indonesia??
2) The sulu sultanate as long lost any sovereignty of any of their lands and no longer a sovereign ruler of any lands. If they transfer their deal for sabah, what they actually can transfer is the annual payment of gratuity. Because the transfer deal is for perpetuity and cannot be revoked. But instead they did not and kept receiving gratuity from malaysia up till Lahad Datu conflict.
3) The sultan of Brunei, which is still a sovereign ruler of his own country to date and a close friend to all of malaysian sultanates, does not claim any part of sabah or sarawak to be territory of brunei now. So who is this nobody from sulu wants to claim the whole of sabah?
4) UN sanctioned referendum has already been done on sabah, and sabahans choose to join malaysia. What Philippines is claiming is exactly the same as what china is claiming to the 9 dash line in south china sea. Claiming an area based on historical precedences. It is totally hypocrite to claim sabah on historical basis while rejecting chinese historical claim to the south china sea.
So is it a new trend in brigade TO&E?
To have an artillery regiment organic to an infantry brigade.
AFAIK all artillery regiments (except for 10th para) are at division level.
Reply
Not really only the 10th Para one is publicised
Ultimately the claim and repeated mention of it is driven by internal political factors. Like all politicians; their politicians engage in a lot of political rhetoric and game playing to gain and maintain support and the power that comes with it.
The average Filipino (whether in Luzon, Mindanao or the Visayas, is indifferent to Sabah; it’s not in their national psyche; like how the Malvinas resonates with Argentines. The Tausugs are a small part of the population and have minimal political representation in Congress.
The main security concerns of the Philippines is over the Spratlys and non state groups like the NPA, BIFF and groups linked to AQ, JI and IS.
Nihd - “AFAIK all artillery regiments (except for 10th para) are at division level.”
Most things are “owned” by divisions but are parcelled out and can be organic or tasked to support specific brigades.
Similarly a “weapons company” is a battalion asset but can be used to support individual companies.