Border Incident

It is quite disheartening reading the news of the incident at Malaysian-Thai border where four soldiers were injured after two grenades were thrown/fired at them.

Mercifully they were only slightly injured in the twin blasts. Most of the papers including Bernama, the national news agency, identified them as soldiers from the Second Division of the Royal Malay Regiment, which of course is wrong.

The soldiers are actually from the Second Battalion of the Royal Malay Regiment. It is indeed disheartening after almost 70 years in existence, my former colleagues still failed to properly identify the country’s premier infantry unit, the Royal Malay Regiment.

They may not be as glamorous as the Special Services Group or the Airborne, but much of the country’s defence rely on them.

It is fortunate the four soldiers were not killed. Otherwise their sacrifices would have been in vain as the nation could not even describe their unit correctly.

Apart from this faux pas, reports on the incident remained sketchy with no one (after 24 hours) could not provide detailed account of what happened.

Did the soldiers returned fire? What was the rule of engagement? As they were aroused by an unidentified group of men in the middle of the night at the border, common sense would dictate that they should have opened fire when the men failed to heed.

But that depends on the rule of engagement. Were they waiting for orders or simply they were sound asleep when they were startled by the intruders who responded by throwing grenades. \

\If indeed the soldiers were injured by hand grenades that by itself shows that they were in shouting distance with their attackers.

Why I am asking this? Who in the right mind would allow a group of men to approach without confronting them? Were they equipped with night vision goggles and body armour?

What happened to the other soldiers? Unlike the commandoes, soldiers from the Royal Malay Regiment usually patrol in numbers. Did the other soldiers returned fire?

Bernama reports that a Thai medic gave them first aid and brought them to a clinic for treatment. If the claim is true, how did a Thai medic could have gotten to the scene faster than a Malaysian medic? Or did the soldiers went to the front line without medics?

More brave questions are needed from my former colleagues to get to the bottom of this incident not only for the sake of the four soldiers but the rest of our armed forces.