SANDAKAN: The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) here has welcomed the suggestion by the Marine Police to widen their patrol of the coastal areas by another five nautical miles for the safety of local fishermen.
Chief of RMN, Admiral Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar, said that the RMN are always supportive of any approaches to further enhance the safety level of coastal areas.
“Though the Marine Police are given the responsibility to monitor the internal waters areas but due to their significant presence in our waters, the suggestion to patrol another five nautical miles is welcomed. In this matter, the RMN will determine a patrol coordination to be implemented. For information, all areas of operation in Eastern Sabah are coordinated by the Joint Task Commander II, based in Tawau.
“We have a Joint Reporting Coordination Centre (JRCC) with facilities to monitor waters, provide air surveillance information and also assets’ information both on the islands and coastal areas,” he said.
It proves that our safety measures have been strengthened and emphasized, Abdul Aziz told reporters after the official visit of the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah to Taman Samudera (family residence of RMN) yesterday.
The Sultan, who is the honorary Captain in-Charge of the RMN, was on his visit to see the recent development of the RMN Base, preparation of assets and RMN members in Eastern Sabah.
Also present at the ceremony was the commander of Naval Region Two of the RMN, Rear Admiral, Dato’ Pahlawan Mohammad Rosland Bin Omar.
In other development, Abdul Aziz refuted the rumors that Lahad Datu is now in curfew.
“An investigation was carried out and I would like to stress that, from out intelligence and observation, the rumor of a curfew is not true,” he said.
Meanwhile, he assured the people that the country’s sovereignty and waters are in safe and secure. The RMN will always give cooperation to other enforcement agencies such as Royal Malaysian Air Force, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agencies, Royal Malaysian Police and Marine Police.
The implementation of the ‘layer defence’ as recommended by Prime Minister would ensure that incident like the intrusion of Lahad Datu will not happened again, he said.