Malaysia’s dire naval shortfalls, reliance on US laid bare in damning audit

The auditor-general’s report exposed a troubling reality: the Royal Malaysian Navy has received only four of its 18 planned new vessels, severely handicapping its ability to patrol the nation’s vast maritime domain, which spans over half a million 500,000 sq km, exceeding its land area.

“We do not possess a sufficient level of deterrence and this directly affects the strategic space and options that defence planners and policymakers have,” warned Thomas Daniel of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia.

He said “the hollowing out of Malaysia’s naval and aerial capabilities”, as exposed by the audit report, hurt the country’s maritime security.

Malaysia’s naval woes run deep. The auditor’s damning report, published on July 4, found that half of the country’s fleet of 49 ships are now operating beyond their serviceable lifespan due to the non-delivery of 14 new vessels commissioned over the past decade.

These “delays in the acquisition and acceptance of new ships” were directly blamed in the report for the continued “use of ships that are beyond their useful life”. It also uncovered 384.5 million ringgit (US$81.6 million) in losses arising from more than 1.62 million unused spare parts that are no longer compatible with the country’s ships.

A US$60 million maritime surveillance upgrade for three of the Royal Malaysian Air Force’s transport planes, outfitting them with the capability to pick up small targets as far as 200 nautical miles (370km) away, was recently completed under the US-led Southeast Asia Maritime Security Initiative.

Thanks to the upgrade, Malaysia is “better able to maintain vigilant watch” over its waters and “better postured to secure the maritime environment”, US Ambassador Edgard