From Wankee to Ozzie - Re AUKUS - Thanks for your hundreds of billions, but Frigg Off

Guardian:

US congressional report explores option of not delivering any Aukus nuclear submarines to Australia

Report offers alternative of the US navy retaining boats and operating them out of Australian bases

Ben Doherty

Thu 5 Feb 2026 08.10 AEDT

From Wankee to Ozzie - Re AUKUS

A new United States congressional report openly contemplates not selling any nuclear submarines to Australia – as promised under the Aukus agreement – because America wants to retain control of the submarines for a potential conflict with China over Taiwan.

The report by the US Congressional Research Service, Congress’s policy research arm, posits an alternative “military division of labour” under which the submarines earmarked for sale to Australia are instead retained under US command to be sailed out of Australian bases.


One of the arguments made against the US selling submarines to Australia is that Australia has refused to commit to supporting America in a conflict with China over Taiwan. Boats under US command could be deployed into that conflict.


Australia’s confidence in Trump’s US has evaporated. What will it take for the alliance to rupture?


The report, released on 26 January, cites statements from the Australian defence minister, Richard Marles, and the chief of navy that Australia would make “no promises … that Australia would support the United States” in the event of war with China over Taiwan.


“Selling three to five Virginia-class SSNs [nuclear-powered general-purpose attack submarines] to Australia would thus convert those SSNs from boats that would be available for use in a US-China crisis or conflict into boats that might not be available for use in a US-China crisis or conflict,” the report argues.

“This could weaken rather than strengthen deterrence and warfighting capability in connection with a US-China crisis or conflict.”

Under the existing Aukus “optimal pathway’, Australia will first buy between three and five Virginia-class nuclear-powered conventionally armed submarines, the first in 2032.


Following that, the first of eight Australian-built Aukus submarines, based on a UK design, is slated to be in the water “in the early 2040s”.

But the Congressional Research report describes an alternative “military division of labour”, under which the US would not sell any Virginia-class submarines to Australia.

The boats not sold to Australia “would instead be retained in US Navy service and operated out of Australia” alongside US and UK attack submarines already planned to rotate through Australian bases.

The report speculated Australia could use the money saved to invest on other defence capabilities, even using those capabilities as a subordinate force in support of US missions.

“Australia, instead of using funds to purchase, build, operate, and maintain its own SSNs, would instead invest those funds in other military capabilities – such as … long-range anti-ship missiles, drones, loitering munitions, B-21 long-range bombers … or systems for defending Australia against attack … so as to create an Australian capacity for performing other missions, including non-SSN military missions for both Australia and the United States.”

The report also raises cybersecurity concerns, noting that “hackers linked to China” are “highly active” in attempting to penetrate Australian government and contractors’ computers.


It argues that sharing nuclear submarine technology with another country “would increase the attack surface, meaning the number of potential digital and physical entry points that China, Russia, or some other country could attempt to penetrate to gain access to that technology”.

The debate over whether the US should sell boats to Australia is also grounded in ongoing concern over low rates of shipbuilding in the US: the country’s shipyards are failing to build enough submarines to supply America’s own navy, let alone build boats for Australia.

For the past 15 years, the US Navy has ordered boats at a rate of two a year, but its shipyards have never met that build rate “and since 2022 has been limited to about 1.1 to 1.2 boats per year, resulting in a growing backlog of boats procured but not yet built”.

The US fleet currently has only three-quarters of the submarines it needs (49 boats of a force-level goal of 66). Shipyards need to build Virginia-class submarines at a rate of two a year to meet America’s own needs, and to lift that to 2.33 boats a year in order to be able to supply submarines to Australia.

Legislation passed by the US Congress prohibits the sale of any submarine to Australia if the US needs it for its own fleet. The US commander-in-chief – the president of the day – must certify that America relinquishing a submarine “will not degrade the United States undersea capabilities”.


What is Aukus pillar one?

Pillar one of the Australia-UK-US (Aukus) agreement involves Australia being given the technology to command its own fleet of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines. There are two stages:

• First, Australia will buy between three and five Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the US, the first of these in 2032. But before any boat can be sold to Australia, the US commander-in-chief – the president of the day – must certify that the US relinquishing a submarine will not diminish its navy’s undersea capability. The US submarine fleet now has only three-quarters of the submarines it needs (49 boats of a force-level goal of 66). And there are significant concerns the US cannot build enough submarines for its own needs, let alone any for Australia.

• Second, by the “late 2030s”, according to the "optimal pathway" outlined in Australia’s submarine industry strategy, the UK will launch the first specifically designed and built Aukus submarine for Britain’s Royal Navy.

The first Australian-built Aukus submarine, for the Royal Australian Navy, will be in the water “in the early 2040s”. Australia will build up to eight Aukus boats, with the final vessels launched in the 2060s.

Each of Australia’s nuclear submarines is forecast to have a working life of about three decades. Australia will be responsible for securing and storing the nuclear waste from its submarines - including high-level nuclear waste and spent fuel (a weapons proliferation risk) - for thousands of years.

Aukus is forecast to cost Australia up to A$368bn to the mid-2050s.

The report argues that Australia’s strict nuclear non-proliferation laws could also weaken US submarine force projection under the current Aukus plan.

Australian officials have consistently told US counterparts that, in adherence to Australia’s commitments as a non-nuclear weapon state under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Australia’s attack submarines can only ever be armed with conventional weapons.

“Selling three to five Virginia-class SSNs to Australia would thus convert those SSNs from boats that could in the future be armed with the US nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile with an aim of enhancing deterrence,” the report states.

The report – authored by Ronald O’Rourke, an analyst for naval affairs in the Congressional Research Service for more than four decades – also makes the case for retaining the current Aukus arrangement.

It argues that selling Virginia-class boats would send “a strong signal to China of the collective determination of the United States and Australia, along with the UK, to counter China’s military modernisation effort”.

“The fact that the United States has never before sold a complete SSN to another country – not even the UK – would underscore the depth of this determination, and thus the strength of the deterrent signal it would send.”

It was also argued that selling nuclear-powered submarines would accelerate the establishment of an Australian submarine fleet “and thereby present China much sooner with a second allied decision-making centre – along with the United States – for attack submarine operations in the Indo-Pacific.

“This would enhance deterrence of potential Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific by complicating Chinese military planning.”

The report says selling Virginia-class boats to Australia would be comparable to assistance the US gave to the UK and France in the 20th century in establishing their nuclear submarine fleets and nuclear weapon arsenals.

Previous Congressional Research Service reports have flagged the possibility of no submarines being available to sell to Australia, but Australia has previously rejected contemplation of any “division of labour” in lieu of acquiring submarines.

The Guardian has approached Australia’s defence minister, Richard Marles, for comment.

Anger among Labour MPs grows over Starmer's handling of Mandelson-Epstein scandal

Thanks MF:



BBC:

Anger among Labour MPs grows over Starmer's handling of Mandelson-Epstein scandal



Summary


Anger is growing among Keir Starmer's own Labour MPs over his handling of the Peter Mandelson scandal


It comes after the prime minister told Parliament he was aware of the former business secretary's ongoing friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein when he appointed him as US ambassador


Starmer said he was misled about the "sheer depth and extent" of Mandelson's relationship with Epstein


Asked on BBC Newsnight if the prime minister should step down, Labour MP Barry Gardiner said: "I think he needs to think very hard about what is in the country's best interest"


MP Rebecca Long-Bailey said Starmer's decision to appoint Mandelson was a "catastrophic misjudgement"


After pressure from the Conservatives and some Labour MPs, Starmer said the government would release all material relating to Mandelson's 2024 appointment - barring national security and "international relations" exemptions


There is a sense of fury across the Labour Party, with the latest events leaving the PM's authority severely weakened, writes our correspondent Harry Farley


Mandelson has not responded to requests for comment - the BBC understands his position is that he has not acted in any way criminally and that he was not motivated by financial gain

An elected KL Mayor drives xenophobic politicians insane

An elected KL Mayor drives xenophobic politicians insane



Thursday, 05 Feb 2026 9:53 AM MYT

By Praba Ganesan


FEB 5 – The ringgit rises and Malaysians are eager to travel to flaunt relative affluence.

Here’s a question, do not salivate, do not pack the bags yet, who runs these desired destinations? Whether by flight, oceanic voyage or bus, are these cities governed through local elections or not?

Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, Cebu, Chiangmai, Delhi, Lahore, Tokyo, London, Paris or New York?

Have a good think before answering. Rattle the head sideways, tell you what, screw columnists and their tricky questions, use AI; Gemini, ChatGPT or perhaps Claude?


They are. Run through elections.


But surely there are exceptions, nations with sanity who do not madly, unthinkingly rush into becoming freely elected cities.

That would be cities in one-party nations of China, Vietnam and North Korea, for Beijing, Shanghai, Hanoi or Pyongyang.


But we hate communists, absolutely abhor them. Umno politicians have built their whole careers spewing their hatred for commies and their commie ways which threaten to humiliate, decimate and annihilate our sacred ways.

There is nothing worse than adopting a communist mindset. It is the number one objective for the true Malay nationalist patriot, to keep Malaysia communist free.

We won’t trust those city elections by commies with only party approved candidates. Damn communists!

That leaves us with Singapore and Brunei. Only one is a travel destination, and not an aspirational destination for Umno leaders.

So, who to follow when deciding on local elections? Because every sane city in the world elects its leadership, with different styles and methods, but the bottom line, elect. Not appoint, elect.

A slew of Malay nationalists here oppose elections in a zeal akin to assuming Kuala Lumpur residents deciding their city management means killing the soul of Kuala Lumpur.

What a very weird way of looking at representative government. In their minds, they have to protect Kuala Lumpur residents from their own foolishness.

But they are completely convinced that all the cities named above are competently run, actually wonderfully run, that they would like to visit them.

That they let their children study in them, safe and reassured their children are not in elected asylums.

It’s the who, not the what

Umno, PAS, Bersatu politicians are not opposed to elections, because their parties hold elections, and they are elected at the state and federal levels.

The study by International Islamic University is commissioned to independently validate what a world already knows.

They are not about to crack the code. It’s political cover for DAP, so that an election in Kuala Lumpur has academic backing, not just the backing of political parties.

Which is why Malay nationalists urge studies into the split public schools system, meaning the existence of Chinese vernacular schools and the UEC examination system.

You dare question appointed mayors, we will question Chinese schools and UEC!

This country is so stuck in 1950s trepidations and haunted by ghosts of the past that what we desperately need is group therapy rather than academic research.

The real opposition is not to elections but the ethnic compositions of city leaderships at the end of elections.

It is the spectre of a Chinese mayor for Kuala Lumpur. Which is Armageddon minus the pyrotechnics for them. Inconceivable, impossible and indecent.

They feel Kuala Lumpur residents, even if the majority of them are Malays, are going to vote for a Chinese.

That’s it, that’s what we are really talking about. All the smokescreens and euphemisms are reduced to the fear of the yellow wave.

As long as Putrajaya appoints the KL mayor, he or she will not be ethnic Chinese.



Kuala Lumpur voters are capable of electing the worst kind of mayor, just as Putrajaya is likely to continue appointing mayors few Kuala Lumpur residents know. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa



KL the new Gotham City

Former MP Puad Zarkashi fears cartels and gangsters will run Malaysian cities if there were free city elections.

Somehow, if civil servants are appointed and hold no direct accountability to Kuala Lumpur residents but to the politicians who appointed them, they will be eminently capable and corruption free.

Corruption happens when things happen in the dark and are done unquestioningly. Corruption in governance directly correlates to transparency, auditing discipline and judiciary oversight.

People do not steal less because they are good people with great values, people do not steal if the likelihood of them being caught is extremely high.

Elections keep those in power in check. Which is why the first six prime ministers diligently warded off fair elections and administered through the bloated institutional corruption being fought today.

The path to reform was the ending of BN monopoly of power in 2008, and BN’s fall from power in 2018.

Private sector corruptors hate elections because they bring uncertainties. They prefer a fixed power structure they can appease to garner privileges.

Better buy out the same guy in power for decades rather than needing to try to buy out all the guys in position to win power.

Worse, forced to witness each proceeding winner highlight the corruption by previous administrations, dragging the private sector corruptors along in their fall.

This city of floods, empty buildings and dirty night markets

As a grandchild of Kuala City Hall garbage collectors and market cleaners, let me weigh in.

Nothing like local knowledge, eh?

They wake up early to be out serving the city, for decades. They are dead now.

Kuala Lumpur voters are capable of electing the worst kind of mayor, just as Putrajaya is likely to continue appointing mayors few Kuala Lumpur residents know.

An elected mayor has a more direct relationship with the electorate. This is not an earth-shattering reveal, this is just the normal thing that happens in normal democracies.

Why fight the world on this?

Why are so many people who do not suffer the city traffic, never rue the long waits for transit buses after their train rides, never cringe when it rains in case their car floats in a parking lot or dinner is under a bridge, want to tell KL what it needs?

Why are so many adamant KL has to avoid modernity in order to preserve imaginary race symbols?

Why disallow Kuala Lumpur folks the right to argue among themselves about what is best for them rather than allow prime ministers from different corners of the federation determine their leadership?

Maybe these politicians won’t answer while they are in team-mode inside Malaysia.

Maybe when they travel out of the country, to any of the thousands of elected cities from Ankara to Wellington, they can look out of their hotel windows and realise the cities have not burnt themselves to the ground.

This does not have to go on in perpetuity because opponents have in them the ability to play out fears in regular Malaysians.

Stop being alarmists. Start being humans who appreciate democracy.

JEFF BEZOS WAS RIGHT to sack a large number of Washington Post staff last night

 Nury Vittachi

 

tdpnsroeoScg8tglaai45t88ut6059297l86tg7a53hahtif4t6m25hi1l45 ·

JEFF BEZOS WAS RIGHT to sack a large number of Washington Post staff last night, I’m sorry to say.

The paper yesterday booted out more than 300 staff in a mass culling of jobs.

Now before I am torn to shreds by my counterparts in the profession, let me add that I offer deep sympathy, on a personal level, for every individual who lost their jobs. I mean that. It’s a tough industry (I’ve been sacked from news outlets several times) and it always hurts to be shown the door.

.

REDUCTIVE AND SHALLOW

But something else MUST be said specifically about the people in the section of Washington Post coverage that I am familiar with—the ones who produce reductive, hostile, nuance-free coverage of mainland China and Hong Kong. Their work has been extremely harmful to all sides, and it is very, very good thing for everyone that it may be over.

The sackings of these people give the world a chance to rise above the shallow anti-China narrative that has been used to trigger an arms race, and instead move towards a world characterized by healthy geopolitical relationships based on trade and mutual respect: in other words, peace and understanding.

You want evidence? I have evidence. Look at the coverage for yourself.

.

'TENTACLE WRITING'

For example, China correspondent Katrina Northrop was sacked by the Washington Post yesterday.

For the readers of the Washington Post, she took the huge, complex, richly cultured, beautifully complex Chinese nation, and reduced it to a malevolent force in Beijing that could do nothing except reach out, tighten its grip, and create crackdowns on everything.

- Her story on finance: “What does Beijing’s tightening grip over Hong Kong mean for the world’s most valuable stock exchange?”

- Her story on the tragic Hong Kong tower blocks fire: “First came the fire. Then came the political crackdown.”

- Her story on the Chinese beauty industry: “Amid Botched procedures, Beijing is cracking down on cosmetic surgery”.

- Her story on politics in Taiwan: “On today’s Washington Post front page, our investigation into the murky mix of organized crime and politics allowing Beijing to extend its reach into Taiwan.”

- Her story on China’s amazing rise in AI: “How China is Using AI to Extend Censorship and Surveillance”.

Get the message? Everything is in the language of tentacles – Beijing reaching out, gripping, tightening, cracking down.

But let’s not be unfair to Ms Northrop, who may be a very nice person, and who writes very well. She was simply following the over-arching “west-good-China-bad” narrative of her industry, like her colleagues.

.

AN AGGRESSIVE HOTEL?

Also sacked was Mike E Miller. In August last year, Miller lead-wrote an article in the Washington Post that reported that both China and the US were spending money on the island of Palau.

But he notably failed to highlight the fact that they were not doing the same thing at all. Chinese people were building a hotel to boost Palau’s tourism industry and employ locals. The US was building special harbors for warships for America’s planned war on China.

Incredibly, Miller’s article painted the Chinese as the aggressive ones! “China, which has the world’s largest navy, has been aggressively increasing its influence across the South China Sea and into the Western Pacific, seeking to becoming the predominant maritime power in a region the U.S. has long considered its domain,” he wrote.

How is a hotel designed to employ locals worse than a warship base? The Chinese-built tourist hotel, Mr Miller wrote, may be used to look at the US war preparations, he explained.

The cringeworthy level of bias was so transparent that a child could see through it. But he may be a nice person, just following orders.

.

FALSE VISION OF HONG KONG

Also sacked was Shibani Mahtani, who wrote wildly negative articles about Hong Kong. Residents of the city know that their home is one of the richest, safest places in the world, and literally the healthiest city on earth, with a longevity level that beats Japan.

But in her hands, it came across as a nightmarish place where awful things happened to the innocent.

To take just one example, Jimmy Lai was kept in solitary confinement, she told the world, omitting the rather crucial fact that he requested it.

Her writing gave the impression that Lai’s trial was about free speech, as she chose to downplay the crucial fact that the heart of it was foreign collusion—and a huge amount of hard evidence of this was shown during the trial. I mean, Mike Pompeo’s office literally talked to Lai as the US passed laws and sanctions that did incredible harm to the innocent people of Hong Kong. Why not report that?

Lai printed a positive portrayal of the terrifying Dragon Slayers Brigade, who went on to gather terrorist-grade bombs and firearms to try to mass-murder innocent people in Wan Chai.

How do these things make Lai a hero, Ms Mahtani?

Again, she may be a nice person, just following orders. But I’m blessed with a large number of friends in Hong Kong, of all political leanings, and I don’t know a single one who is not horrified by the deeply unfair coverage of their city and their country by foreign correspondents working for the west against China.

.

SHORTAGE OF JOURNALISTS

As for the journalists out of a job in this region, I have a suggestion.

The world has a massive shortage of journalists who can rise above Tentacle Writing (“crackdown”, “grip”, “tightening hold” “Beijing's reach”) and write intelligently and even-handedly about East Asia, with insight and nuance and balance and fairness and honesty, even to the Chinese. I refer to people who can create bridges instead of walls.

Why not try being one of those? The world needs you.

• 
  
  
  

Civilians bear brunt of Israeli strikes in Gaza, 24 dead

Civilians bear brunt of Israeli strikes in Gaza, 24 dead



Mourners stand next to the bodies of Palestinian victims who were reportedly killed in Israeli strikes earlier in the day, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on February 4, 2026. — AFP pic

Thursday, 05 Feb 2026 10:00 AM MYT


GAZA CITY, Feb 5 — Gazan health officials said Israeli air strikes on Wednesday killed 24 people, with Israel’s military saying the attacks were in response to one of its officers being wounded by enemy gunfire.

Despite an ongoing US-brokered truce entering its second phase last month, violence has continued in the Gaza Strip, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of breaching the agreement.


The latest bloodshed came after Israel partly reopened the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the only gateway to the Palestinian territory that does not pass through Israel.

The Gazan health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority, said that 21 people were killed, including three children, in a series of strikes, with at least 38 others wounded.


The territory’s civil defence agency said that two more people were killed and eight injured in a strike on a tent in the centre of the Strip, and another person was killed in a strike that hit a group of civilians west of Gaza City.


The Israeli military said it had launched strikes after “terrorists opened fire on troops” Wednesday, seriously wounding an officer.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was “outraged” by the killing of an on-duty paramedic, Hussein Hassan Hussein Al-Samiri, in a bombardment in the southern Al-Mawasi area.


The Israeli military said one strike in southern Gaza had targeted a Hamas platoon commander named Bilal Abu Assi who led an assault on a kibbutz during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.

It added it was aware of claims that “several uninvolved civilians, including a medical staff member, were hit in the strike” and that it had taken steps “to mitigate harm to civilians as much as possible”.

The military said its strikes had also killed Ali Raziana, whom it described as the commander of Hamas ally Islamic Jihad’s northern Gaza brigade, as well as Hamas’s Muhammad Issam Hassan al-Habil, accused of killing an Israeli soldier, Noa Marciano, who was taken hostage on October 7.

In Gaza City, Abu Mohammed Haboush said “we were sleeping when suddenly shells and gunfire rained down on us”.

“Young children were martyred, my son and my nephew were among the dead. We lost many young men,” he said.

Shortage of medical aid

AFP images showed mourners offering prayers in the compound of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where several bodies wrapped in white shrouds were laid out.

Three bodies were brought to Nasser Hospital after Israeli strikes hit homes and tents housing displaced Palestinians in the southern Khan Yunis area, the civil defence agency said.

Fourteen more bodies were taken to Al-Shifa Hospital, its director Mohamed Abu Salmiya said in a statement.

“We also received dozens of wounded. The situation is extremely difficult in the hospitals of the Gaza Strip due to the severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies,” Abu Salmiya said.

Israel scrutinises all aid coming into besieged Gaza.

Israel on Monday allowed the reopening of the Rafah crossing, reportedly following US pressure, but limited passage to patients and their travel companions.

On Tuesday, 45 people crossed into Egypt and 42 entered the territory, a source at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society told AFP.

‘My homeland’

Relatives of those returning from Egypt screamed in joy, hugging and crying.

“I am so happy to be back with my husband, my children, my family, my loved ones and, of course, my homeland,” Fariza Barabakh, who returned that day, told AFP.

“It’s an indescribable feeling, thank God. What can I say? My two young children didn’t recognise me, but thank God. I hope it will be alright,” Yusef Abu Fahma, another returnee, told AFP.

Gaza’s health ministry says at least 556 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, while the Israeli military says four of its soldiers have been killed over the same period.

Media restrictions and limited access in Gaza have prevented AFP from independently verifying casualty figures or freely covering the fighting. — AFP

Court of Appeal upholds 28-year sentence, caning for man convicted of raping his wife’s 12-year-old sister

Court of Appeal upholds 28-year sentence, caning for man convicted of raping his wife’s 12-year-old sister



Justice Datuk Azman Abdullah said the victim’s testimony describing the rape was supported by medical evidence, adding that the victim would not make up stories against the appellant. — Picture by Raymond Manuel

Thursday, 05 Feb 2026 9:14 AM MYT


PUTRAJAYA, Feb 5 — The Court of Appeal yesterday upheld the 28-year prison sentence and 24 strokes of the cane imposed on a grass cutter convicted of three counts of raping his sister-in-law.

The 41-year-old man’s final appeal against his conviction and sentences was dismissed by a three-man bench comprising Justices Datuk Azman Abdullah, Datuk Noorin Badaruddin and Datuk Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid.

Delivering the unanimous decision, Justice Azman said the victim’s testimony describing the rape was supported by medical evidence, adding that the victim would not make up stories against the appellant.

He added that the 14-year prison sentence imposed by the Sessions Court for each charge was not excessive.

According to the charges, the father of two was accused of raping the victim, who was 12 years old at the time, once in February and twice in July 2021 at a house in Marang, Terengganu.

On September 8, 2024, the Sessions Court sentenced the man to 14 years’ jail and 10 strokes of the cane for each charge.

The court ordered the sentences for the second and third charges to run concurrently, after completion of the sentence for the first charge.

However, the man will only be given 24 strokes of the cane based on the maximum permitted under Section 288 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

On May 22 last year, the High Court dismissed the man’s appeal and upheld the decision of the Sessions Court, prompting him to file an appeal to the Court of Appeal.

At the appeal hearing in the Court of Appeal, lawyer Nik Mohamed Ikhwan Nik Mahamud represented the man while deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Arif Aizuddin Masrom appeared for the prosecution. — Bernama

***

In rapes of minors, castration may be appropriate, chemical castration lah, wakakaka.

Too hot in here — Why the APM made around 140,000 snake captures in 2025

Too hot in here — Why the APM made around 140,000 snake captures in 2025



Penang alone accounted for 8,193 snake-related emergencies last year, with hot weather and development driving reptiles into residential areas. — Picture by Opalyn Mok

Wednesday, 04 Feb 2026 6:20 PM MYT


GEORGE TOWN, Feb 4 — The Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM) recorded about 140,000 emergency cases involving snake captures nationwide in 2025, making it one of the agency’s most frequent operations.

Its deputy chief commissioner (Operations) Ghazali Abd Rahman said the increase was mainly due to prolonged hot weather and rapid development in residential areas, which have forced wild animals out of their natural habitats.

He said most calls came from landed residential areas located near forests, green zones and new development sites. States with high numbers include Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

“When habitats are disturbed, animals look for food elsewhere and enter residential areas. Penang alone recorded 8,193 snake-related cases last year, with another 669 cases reported in January, showing the trend is continuing.


“On average, each state records between 8,000 and 10,000 cases. Nationwide, the total reaches about 140,000 cases a year. This shows snake capture operations are not a small issue and are directly linked to public safety,” he said.

Ghazali said this to reporters after officiating the Penang APM opening parade here today. Also present was director Lokman Hakim Abdul Rahman.

He said snake capture operations should not be taken lightly, as removing a single snake could potentially save one or several families in a residential area.


On personnel safety, Ghazali said injury statistics during snake capture operations remain low, with fewer than 10 cases recorded annually in each state.

“Most personnel comply with standard operating procedures, but improvements will continue, particularly in the use of personal protective equipment and specialised training during animal relocation to prevent incidents,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said APM has established a special committee to strengthen operational capabilities through a comprehensive organisational review covering structure, staffing, logistics, training and personnel safety.

Ghazali, who chairs the committee, said APM is preparing a long-term blueprint to guide the organisation’s future direction, adding that the review is crucial to ensure operational readiness keeps pace with the increasing workload, including cases involving venomous animals. — Bernama