The Malaysian government has issued the country’s first Defence White Paper, even as longstanding plans to replace or upgrade aging equipment have yet again been postponed. The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) is especially a victim of the situation, which has been made worse by the political upheaval in 2018 when Malaysians voted to replace the allegedly corrupt establishment government with a new coalition headed by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed, now 93 years old.
The tension in the South China Sea is not overtly blamed on Chinese expansionism, although the White Paper refers to “overlapping sovereign claims,” which include some by Malaysia. But for many years, the country’s main security concern has been in the geographically separated eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak. Here, border disputes, illegal fishing, kidnapping for ransom, sea piracy, and even terrorist action are countered by surface vessels, army formations, and in the air by aging RMAF Beechcraft King Air 200T maritime surveillance aircraft, BAE Hawk jets, and Airbus EC725 helicopters. The Army has armed Leonardo AW109 helicopters. The Navy has six Leonardo Super Lynx and armed Airbus AS355 helicopters.
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