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Malaysia's armed forces, which encompasses three major branches, originate from the formation of local military forces in the first half of the 20th century, during British colonial rule of Malaya and Singapore prior to Malaya's independence in 1957. The branches have undergone several restructuring, but fundamentally includes the army, navy and air force.

Malaysian Army

The first military in Malaysia can be traced back to the Malay States Volunteer Rifles which existed from 1915-1936. The birth of the Malaysian Army came about when the Federal Council of Federated Malay States eventually passed the Malay Regiment Bill on 23 January 1933. This allowed the initial recruitment of 25 males for the First Experimental Malay Company on 1 March 1933. Major G. McI. S. Bruce of the Lincolnshire Regiment was the first Commanding Officer.

By 1 January 1935, the Experimental Company became The Malay Regiment with a complement of 150 men. A battalion was formed on 1 January 1938 and eventually a second battalion on 1 December 1941,.

The 1st Bn Malay Regiment was famous for its successful defence of Opium Hill (Template:Lang-ms), Singapore, in the Battle of Pasir Panjang during the Battle of Singapore. The Battle of Opium Hill on 14 February 1942 involved 42 soldiers commanded by Lt. Adnan Bin Saidi who defended their position against attack from the 18th Division of the Japanese Imperial Army under Lt. Gen. Renya Mutaguchi. After World War II and during the Malayan Emergency, the number of battalions was increased to 7 in the early 1950s.

The Kor Armor DiRaja (Malay; English: Royal Armoured Corps) can trace its roots to the formation on 1 September 1952 of the Federation Reconnaissance Squadron. It was later merged with the Federation Regiment to form the Federation Reconnaissance Corps. The name underwent a few transformations from the Malaysian Reconnaissance Corps (16 September 1970), Royal Malaysian Reconnaissance Corps (May 1979) to Royal Cavalry Corps (December 1979) and finally to Kor Armor DiRaja (Royal Armoured Corps) on 8 December 1986.

Royal Malaysian Navy

The Royal Malaysian Navy originated from the Straits Settlement Volunteer Reserve Force formed on 27 April 1934 in Singapore. The formation of a Penang branch in 1938 saw its expansion. When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Britain strengthened its Naval Force in Southeast Asia by forming a unit called the "Malay Section of The Royal Navy" to protect the security of Singapore and Malaya. This unit which consisted of 400 men underwent training at a training camp called HMMS Pelandok, a British naval base in Singapore. Expansion saw the unit increase to 1450 men during World War II. Due to shortage of funds, the British disbanded the force after World War II in April 1947. The Malayan Naval Forces was again created in 1948 in response to the Malayan Emergency with the loan of one landing ship and five fast surface launches from the Royal Navy. In 1953, HM Queen Elizabeth awarded the Malayan Navy a Royal status to become the Royal Malayan Navy. The first vessel was a minesweeper called HMS Penyu or Turtle. After independence, it was transferred from Singapore on 12 July 1958 as an independent sovereign navy. On 16 September 1963 it was renamed as the Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia (Royal Malaysian Navy) in accordance to the formation of Malaysia.

Royal Malaysian Air Force

The Royal Malaysian Air Force was founded in 1936 as Malayan Auxiliary Air Force, disbanded after World War II but reactivated in 1950. The passing of the Air Force Ordinance by the Parliament on 2 June 1958 saw the creation of Royal Malayan Air Force (RMAF). The first adviser was seconded from the Royal Air Force (RAF), Air Commodore A.V.R Johnstsone who became the first Chief of the RMAF. The proud few who formed the RMAF were Flying Officer Lim Heng Lip, Sergeant Subramanian, Corporal Othman Mohd Ismail, Corporal Wan Said, Corporal JD Parsley, Corporal Mahadeven, Senior Aircraftman (SAC) Surindam, SAC Md Noor, SAC Zainal, SAC Mohd Hussain and Junior Technician (JT) Ismail Ariffin. The first aircraft acquired for Squadron No 1 was a Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer which served the RMAF for 12 years. It was named Lang Rajawali by Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of Malaya. With the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963, the name of the force was changed to Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia (Royal Malaysian Air Force).

Malaysian Military Scandals

A number of scandals have cropped up over the procurement and handling of arms and equipment by the Malaysian Ministry of Defence and Malaysian Military over the past decade. Many of these cases have been widely reported in the media with the guilty parties yet to be prosecuted for these misdemeanors.

Missing Jet Engines

Two F-5E fighter aircraft engines from the Royal Malaysian Air Force went missing in May 2008 and a police report was lodged in August that year. According to Najib there is no cover up on the theft of the jet engines. It was reported that a brigadier-general and 40 other armed forces personnel had been sacked over the incident.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak currently claims that there had been no cover up. The jet engines went missing when he was the Defence Minister in Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's Cabinet. Government analysts have said that Najib should have announced the theft to the public immediately after the theft. Opposition DAP leader Lim Kit Siang on December 22, 2009 called on the government to release a full report to the public on the missing Royal Malaysian Air Force jet engines as it has seriously damaged the Najib administration’s government transformation programme. He stated that Malaysians are entitled to a full, uncensored and unvarnished account of the two missing RM50 million jet engines and why the various authorities seem to be super-slow in their remedial responses. So far two men, RMAF Sgt N Tharmendran and company director Rajandran Prasad have been charged with the theft of the two jet engines in the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court on Jan 6.

On January 26, 2009 the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee completed its probe into the two missing Royal Malaysian Air Force F-5E jet engines, and came to the conclusion that there was no involvement of high-ranking military officers in the theft. However a member of the committee dismissed the Committee's conclusion that ruled out the involvement of high ranking Royal Malaysian Air Force officers.

Naval Patrol Boats

A Malaysian company PSC-Naval Dockyard was contracted to deliver six patrol boats for the Malaysian Navy in 2004 and complete delivery by April 2008. Those were supposed to be the first of 27 offshore vessels ultimately to cost RM24 billion plus the right to maintain and repair all of the country's naval craft. But only two barely operational patrol boats had been delivered by mid-2006. There were 298 recorded complaints about the two boats, which were also found to have 100 and 383 uncompleted items aboard them respectively. The original RM5.35 billion contract ballooned to RM6.75 billion by January 2007. The auditor also reported that the ministry had paid out RM4.26 billion to PSC up to December 2006 although only RM2.87 billion of work had been done, an overpayment of RM1.39 billion, or 48 percent. In addition, Malaysia's cabinet waived late work and delivery penalties of RM214 million to be payed by PSC-Naval Dockyard. Between December 1999, according to the Auditor General, 14 progressive payments amounting to RM943 million despite the fact that the auditor general could find no payment vouchers or relevant documents dealing with the payments. The auditor general attributed the failure to serious financial mismanagement and technical incompetence stemming from the fact that PSC had never built anything but trawlers or police boats before being given the contract by Najib and the Ministry of Defense.

Eurocopter

Opposition figures pushed for an investigation of Najib Razak's involvement in the procurement of 12 Eurocopter helicopters that they contend was conducting improperly. It is claimed that the Defence Ministry massively overpaid when buying aircraft from Eurocopter for the Royal Malaysian Air Force. On October 14, 2008 Anwar Ibrahim the opposition leader called for an investigation into the Eurocopter deal. Soon after the opposition Pakatan Rakyat Youth lodged a formal complaint against Najib for alleged wrongdoing in the Eurocopter deal. The complaint claimed that Malaysia signed a letter of intent to acquire 12 Eurocopter EC725 Cougar helicopters for the sum of RM2.3 billion while Brazil paid only US$1.2 billion for 50 units of the same model. A Malaysian parliamentary panel, The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), composed of government and opposition lawmakers, investigated

Scorpene Submarines

The purchase of the Scorpene submarines was allegedly brokered by a Mongolian national, Altantuya Shaariibuu who had a relationship with Abdul Razak Baginda, a defense analyst from the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre think-tank, with ties to Najib Razak. She reportedly had worked as Abdul Razak’s translator on a deal to purchase the submarines from France. In October 2006, the French newspaper Liberation claimed that Altantuya was informed that the commission paid by Armaris, a Spanish company involved in Malaysia’s acquisition of the submarines for one billion euros (RM4.7 billion), had been deposited in a bank account in Malaysia. The commission of 114 million euros was allegedly paid into the account of Perimekar, a company that Razak Baginda controlled. Altantuya then allegedly flew to Kuala Lumpur with her cousin to demand her share of the commission, which was to have been US$500,000. Altantuya was reported missing on 19 October 2006 by her cousin who lodged a police report and sought help from the Mongolian embassy in Bangkok. She was later discovered murdered with her remains found in a forested area in Shah Alam, Malaysia.

Sukhoi Fighter Jets

The fighter jet deal, worth US$900 million (RM3.2 billion), was through a Russian state company, Federal State Unitary Enterprise 'Rosoboronexport' on May 19, 2003. A company called IMT Defence Sdn. Bhd. was appointed the local agent for the Russian company and received 12 percent of the purchase price, US$108 million (RM380 million). The principal figure and chairman of IMT Defence is Mohamad Adib Adam, the former chief minister of Malacca, the previous Land and Development Minister and a longtime UMNO stalwart. The involvement of IMT Defence only became known because in March 2005, a former director of IMT, Mohamad Zainuri Mohamad Idrus, filed suit against several Adib-related companies, alleging that Adib and his sister, Askiah Adam wanted to prevent him from exposing the Sukhoi deal. In 2006, Mohamad Zainuri lodged a police report alleging that Adib had stolen the US$108 million commission that was supposed to be channeled to the company while Najib was the Defence Minister.

References

1. IHS Jane's

• Military history of Malaysia