Pages

Saturday, March 21, 2020

Defence Minister too impetuous in deploying military for MCO


MM Online:

Patriot says minister has no authority to deploy army, calls move ‘hasty and premature’



Patriot president Brig Jen (Rtd) Datuk Mohamed Arshad Raji today said that Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob does not have the right to deploy the army and that the mobilisation initiative set for Sunday was premature

Picture by Yusof Mat Isa
 

KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 20 — Patriot president Brig Jen (Rtd) Datuk Mohamed Arshad Raji today said that Defence Minister Datuk Seri ismail Sabri Yaakob does not have the right to deploy the army and that the mobilisation initiative set for Sunday was premature.

“The defence minister must understand that he does not have the authority to deploy any unit of the armed forces or make any reference to such an act.

“The authority lies solely with the respective Service Chiefs through a consensus being discussed and agreed upon by the Service Chief’s Council Presided upon by the Chief Defence Force (CDF),” Mohamed Arshad said in a statement.

Arshad said the deployment of the army was hasty and premature and the police are capable of handling the situation.

He also chided the minister for being too keen to deploy the army without consulting his CDF which ended up with two contradictory statements with the CDF saying the army won’t be deployed while Ismail said it will.


“It appears that the defence minister is only too keen to deploy the military. Earlier when the CDF made the announcement that the military would not be deployed for the Movement Control Order (MCO), it was to stem fear and confusion among the masses, and to calm the mass paranoia of buying up household needs, and rightfully so,” said Mohamed Arshad.

The Malaysian Armed Forces will deploy on Sunday to assist civilian authorities in enforcing the MCO, Ismail said today.

On why the military was being deployed, he said the Health Ministry was authorised to request such support if needed using Section 5 of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988.

“On the government’s restrictive movement order, we believe the police, being the authority to effect the order, has sufficient resources to control and managed the order effectively.

“The more than 130,000 personnel, and particularly from the General Operational Force that are currently positioned in different parts of the country, can be deployed for such a task,” said Mohamed Arshad.

“Patriot is confident that the police will professionally execute the task given. After all it is barely three days that the MCO has been gazetted and the police must be allowed to execute their task. The defence minister must have full trust and confidence in the ability of our police force who are experienced enough in dealing with internal security issues.”

He, however, added that there is a more pressing need for proper and effective communication to the masses on the need to stay put and be disciplined about practising social distancing.

Brig Jen Arshad Raji is correct. But in practical (or realistic) terms, the CDF would be under enormous pressure from the Defence Minister (his political boss) to do what the minister says/wants. We are a nation with feudalistic mentality, hence the question of "Siapa Raja?" always prevails.



Indeed, the Brig Jen has been spot on in stressing that earlier on the CDF said the military would not be deployed for the Movement Control Order (MCO), and even went to the extent of saying troop movements including armoured vehicles had been a result of the cancellation of military exercises due to the MCO, and he said so to stem fear and confusion among the masses, and to calm the mass paranoia of buying up household needs.

Why the CDF was attempting to assure the public from panicking by stressing on non-military involvement in the MCO, the LowYat2 minister was vocally threatening to loosen the leashes of the military to control public movements.

While there is nothing wrong in using the military to backup the police in implementing effective MCO, that call-up (of the military to support the police) must be on the initiative of the police, and NOT by the Defence Minister.

But Sabri kept bleating on that threat to such an extent that both the IGP and the CDF had no choice but to toe the line so as not to embarrass the LowYat2 clown.


And as Liew Chin Tong (former deputy Defence Minister) said, the military should not be used only as patrols but more constructively. His take follows:

First, I am not part of this Government and I was not privy to the thinking process of the Minister so I don’t wish to defend the Minister.

Second, deploying the Army to assist the Police just like during a flood is not wrong. During flood we call the Armed Forces to assist. So I see no wrong in the deployment.

But it will be really unfortunate if the Government or our society at large thinks that what the Armed Forces could do is just patrolling. My key message is that as a government, as a society, and as a nation, especially in time of crisis, we need to know the full range of capabilities residing with our Armed Forces and deploy them most effectively.

We must now be prepared for the worst in order to have the best outcome in such crisis. We must be prepared for the possibility of facing a scenario similar to Italy in order to paradoxically avoid going that way. As we say in Malay, sediakan payung sebelum hujan.

The most important task that the Armed Forces as a whole, not just Army but also Navy and Air Force, must be asked to do is to “scenario plan” in the event Malaysia reaches 3,000 cases; 5,000 cases; 10,000 cases and beyond. By then the civilian authorities alone would not be able to cope.


For the rest of his article, please refer to his blog article On the involvement of the Malaysian Armed Forces.

It goes to show that Brig Jen Arshard Raji has been correct, seeing we have NOT yet arrived at such a calamitous stage. The military of course can plan for that but Arshard Raji is spot on in saying deploying the military now is far too premature. But how does one tell that to a clown who created LowYat2 as a vindictive but costly venture (to public money)?


Liew is one of the few DAP leaders I still have respect for. Although he became a 'backdoor' (wakakaka) senator in 2018 in order to become the deputy Defence Minister, after losing the Ayer Itam seat to Wee Ka Siong, and I have teased him for that 'backdoor'-ing, he is one of the few intellectuals in the Rocket Party who doesn't tok-kok.

Liew is the sort of person the DAP needs for its corp of future leadership, not vicious 'players' as we have witnessed in Perak and some parts of Selangor, or simpletons, wakakaka.

7 comments:

  1. I think only Parliament can authorise the deployment of armed forces: army, navy or air force.

    And Parliament should say:

    Can use soldiers but cannot use tanks, armoured vehicles or carry heavy weapons. Only personnel carriers and light weapons same as polis cukup-lah. And use army medical resources.

    Now Malaysians start to realise Mat Sabu wasn't too bad. Tukang Masak. He did nothing? Maybe nothing was the right thing to do. Now you have a trigger happy turtle-egg loving Defence Minister who wants to deploy the army, hardly 2 weeks into the job.

    Ha ha ha Reap What You Sow. I'm NOT Lovin' It....

    Rollicking Democracy?....no, we don't have that any more, it's a Dead Democracy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. peduli apa.. menteri kesihatan yang mohon bantuan army kerana orang tak faham bahasa movement control order.. kalau tak pakai army wabak ini tak boleh control.. kalau tak boleh control.. orang tak boleh kerja.. kalau tak boleh kerja orang nak makan apa? tak kan nak tunggu sampai keadaan macam italy ramai orang mati baru nak pakai army! ish.. ish.. ish..

    ReplyDelete
  3. If the Defence Minister is too impetuous, the Health Minister is what? Where did he get his MBBS from? Drink warm water can prevent catching COV19?

    Malaysia's health system is one of the best in the world. We have a top class public health system, but a rather separate private hospital network and GP and specialist clinics. Very soon our public hospitals will be overwhelmed by the increasing number of COV19 cases.

    So far the Minister of Health has not even tapped into the resources available in the private sector. There needs to be a coordinated approach to tackle this huge problem.

    So rather than make stupid suggestions like drinking warm water he should seek help from the proper experts.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Why hasn't the GOF ( the police's reserve force) been deployed, before the Army got called out ?
    What social breakdown requires Army patrols ?
    All I see is a small number of stubborn but non-violent people ignoring requests to stay at home.
    Persuasion, education and fining some recalcitrant should do the trick.

    Is the Backdoor Backside government using the Military to intimidate the public ?
    They know they lack legitimacy in the eyes of the public.
    I know a heck of a lot Malays are also calling them Kerajaan Pintu Belakang.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Let's make a quick 3-week Performance Review of the PN government:

    1. PM - convened a NSC meeting on COV19, a medical emergency but did not include any medical experts. Most notable (and Trump-like) public comment: "Wait For A Big Announcement Tonight"

    2. Health Minister claims that drinking warm water will help prevent COV19

    3. Jaga Kereta Minister Wee KHAT Siong was totally ignored by NSC and did not do anything to prevent the mass balik kampung sembur COV19 merata rata. Still does not realise that MAS will run out of cash by mid-year

    4. Menteri Cap Buruh Saravanan also totally ignored by NSC and sending mixed messages to employees and employers...mass job losses coming

    5. Finance Minister lost at sea, we need decisive leadership but he is still reading the "Finance Minister for Dummies" book and nervously watching CIMB share price collapsing from RM5 to below 4

    6. Defence Minister wants to deploy the army, without consulting the Generals or Parliament, or anyone for that matter

    7.Minister of Higher Education totally mis-understood MCO, sent uni students balik kampung, then retracted

    8.Minister of Home Affairs - his IGP issued nonsensical instruction, get paper permit before balik kampung, then retracted it 3 hours later

    9.Minister of Communications and Multimedia - totally uncoordinated and confusing information, no proper FAQs

    10.Senior Minister of Education - total silence from him. Not a politician. Forensic Bean Counter. Why is he even a Senior Minister?

    11.Tourism Minister - only thing notable is to cancel VMY2020, well and good, so now nothing to do please donate all the ministry's budget and your salary to Tabung COV19

    12.Senior Minister of Works, well please get to work, not a poop or peep from you? Need to pump prime the economy, get the big projects going (not only those in Sarawak yah....GPS guy)

    13. Minister of Religious Affairs / Minister of National Unity. No wonder Tiong King Sing cabut from this one. Besides canceling Friday prayers the other religions are left to manage on their own, but fortunately they are doing quite well. Can we have TV and Radio resources re-directed to transmit religious events besides Islam like temple and church services. We all need to pray to God for his help in this time of crisis

    14. Minister of Women and Family. Stopped Talian Kasih hotline, then put it up again after receiving brickbats. Also want MAS female cabin crew to wear shariah compliant uniform and defended under age child marriages

    15. Minister of Environment - defended logging in Kelantan, saying they are ISO certified to log (actually the certification had expired)

    Well done PN, you so desperately wanted to govern, now please govern properly. Reap What You Sow.

    We all deserve the government we elect but we didn't elect this one.

    Rollicking Dead Democracy...I'm NOT Lovin' It...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Menteri kesihatan tidak boleh/layak secara langsung minta bantuan tentera. Kawalan rakyat adalah tugas (peranan) polis, FULL STOP.

    Hanya polis (IGP) bolih minta bantuan tentera.

    ReplyDelete
  7. dap bull talk no 1 lct shd demand an answer from his many colleague during their reign that keep on saying no community infection, no who announcement therefore we cant restrict people from entering msia, n religious activity can go on as normal, where is their scenario plan? really the champion of kok toking.

    ReplyDelete