I never belittled our Armed Forces, says Mat Sabu

KUALA LUMPUR: Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu today said he has never belittled the Malaysian Armed Forces’ ability in protecting the country.

He was responding to a question by Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Arau lawmaker Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim who asked on the former’s remark during the 18th Asia Security Summit last month.

Shahidan asked if Malaysia was unable to defend itself and if Mohamad was belittling the Armed Forces by saying “we can’t fight them” during the Summit.

The former Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department also asked if Malaysia was unable to protect its waters in the event of an attack by other countries due to the lack of advanced defence technology.

In response, Mohamad said the country would continue to focus on maintaining its diplomatic ties with other countries while at the same time looking into resolving security issues, both in the South East Asia region and at the international level.

“We definitely don’t want to go into war with any world power. I never belittled the ability of the Malaysian Armed Forces.

“Instead, the Defence Ministry is currently drawing up the Security White Paper where we will present the need for the Armed Forces to be further improved in the next 10 years.

“God willing, the paper will be tabled in the next Parliament session.

“Our defence ability and readiness are at the highest level in facing any threats especially externally,” he told the Dewan Rakyat, here, today.

On June 4, Mohamad’s press secretary Amin Shah Iskandar defended his boss following criticism of his command of the English language at the Summit, on social media.

Critics had hit out at Mohamad for his “gaffes” during a question-and-answer session at the Summit’s Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, but Amin said it was unfair to single out an instance when he was speaking off-the-cuff.