From the all famous Eric Musadi
Defending Tiger Country
The Tigers, Singapore Has To Contend With.
There have been alot of tensions between Singapore and Malaysia, on
issues pertaining from water to Pedro Branca or Pulau Batu
Putih.Some Singaporean websites present things that if there was a
war it will be a walkover for them, then there is this book by Tim
Huxley, "Defending the Lion City", which makes out the war scenario
with pre-emptive strikes on Malaysian Forces. Where Malaysian
Forces are defeated and Malaysians are subject to Singapore's
Military rule.
First of all Singapore and Malaysia, their fortunes are entwined,
with blood ties across the causeway. There will be no winners in
this war. Let me explain, Singapore considers itself the little
Israel of South East Asia, thats why a lot of hawks down there
advocate confrontation. There is no denying that its forces are
well armed. The Israelis have always defeated the Arabs in all
their wars, this confidence is ingrained in the Singapore minds.
Let's have a reality check here, the Arabs do not regularly have
Combined Arms Exercises, meaning they do not exercise
simultaneously with their Armies, Navies and Airforce. Why ? To
conduct combined exercises there must be clearance from the highest
levels, so as to place the state police apparatus on the ongoing
exercises, so that the Generals can be monitored. None of their
despotic Arab leaders wants a coup conducted against them when all
these many generals get together. So in other words their forces
are never really tested. Only when cleared at the highest levels
are they ever held, as it is a hassle to get clearance, therefore
their forces are rarely tested, they learn most oftheir lessons
during the war with the Israelis, but then it is too late.
Normally the Military is used against it's own citizens which they
are very adept at. At lower levels, tank regiments do not exercise
with infantry regiments, artillery and with others which is
important to coordinate attacks and defence, these exercises not
only strengthen coordination, weaknesses can be identified and
rectified, logistics needs for hour to hour requirements on the
battle field can be enhanced to improve deliverability, strengths
noted to be improved upon, doctrines tested, if needed, changed to
evolve into a magnificient fighting force. There is a dictum "the
way you train is the way you are going to fight".
Malaysian troops constantly have combined arms exercises throughout
the year, they have elaborately planned out training cycles for the
individual,units, brigades, divisions and the corps as a whole. The
Singapore mind, to place the Malaysian forces in the same category
as the Arabs is an under estimation. Malaysian soldiers, sailors
and airman join the regular forces for the love of the profession,
most of them. There are servicemen with an impressive lineage of
soldiering. Most Malaysian servicemen have been blooded. They
exercise in peace times with imaginery enemies, they have made
mistakes, they go back to the drawing boards. They know their
weaknesses,they improvise, adapt and overcome. They also conduct
lots of cross training with foreign forces.
An elevated level of cooperation with the United States on the
range of fronts.There have been more than 75 U.S. military ship
visits in the past two and a half years. The United States conducts
training exercises with the Royal Malaysian Air Force, flying with
and against them in mock battles. U.S. Navy SEALs conduct training
in Malaysia twice a year. The U.S. Army does field exercises with
the Malaysian army. I might mention here that, for their expertise
in jungle warfare, Malaysians are known in the business as
"whispering death." Finally, 1,500 Malaysian defense personnel have
benefited from the U.S.
The confidence factor in the Singapore mind is their formidable
airforce with their air to air refuelling capability, to bring them
in from Australia, Taiwan and the US. One does not strike
pre-emptively out of the blue. ". On this page you can find the
aircraft order of battle of the Malaysian Air Force, locally known
as Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia.
There should be an escalation of tensions. The majority of the
Singapore servicemen are conscripts, the key elements of their
forces are made up of their regulars. That means there is no
continuation in training.
It is a major factor that will contribute in the performance of
it's frontline troops. I have seen the conscripts perform, which
makes me confident that we can defeat them on the ground, as the
bulk of Singapore's forces comprise of conscripts. I do honestly
hope they do not faint when they see blood and guts ! Malaysian
troops are the only forces in the world to have defeated a
communist insurgency. They happen to be the best jungle fighters in
the world. Elite fores all over the world are trained by them. The
jungle warfare school in Fort Benning, Georgia was set up by a
Malaysian team.
Just to recapture, on the 3rd of October 1993 incident, in
Mogadishu, Somalia a combined team of 4 Pakistani tanks and 24
Malaysian Infantry fighting vehicles rescued America's elite
fighting unit, the Rangers. You can see the fictious account in the
movie, "Black Hawk Down". For your information as they were moving
into the combat zone, when hostile fire was being received the
Pakistani tanks turned tail and fled, this has been hushed up in
the name of diplomacy. The Malaysians persevered, rescuing the
Rangers at the cost of one Malaysian killed, 9 wounded and losing 4
IFVs. Seventy, so called elite American forces did not litter the
streets of Mogadishu with their bodies because of the sacrifices
made by the Malaysians. Of course US magazines belittled the
contribution of the Malaysian troops by calling them 'gun shy', as
mentioned in Newsweek.
The Malaysians kept all MSRs openedwhen the Americans withdrew into
a shell after that incident and to later withdraw from Somalia. An
extract from the Washington Post. "They realized they'd have to do
it in armor, so we linked them with 24 Malaysian armored personnel
carriers, four Pakistani tanks and two armored personnel carriers
and a company of armored Humvees," Stockwell said. Stockwell said
"it came together very quickly" and strongly disputed the report of
a U.S. Army officer in Washington that "it took intense pressure
from Americans to get the Malaysians and some Pakistani M-113s to
deploy." "I will grant you that in this international U.N. military
we do not have the same command and control; the unity of command
is a lot looser, so sometimes it takes some persuading," Stockwell
said. But he added: "The Malaysians performed magnificently."
Summary of combat operations. or the US Ranger version.
Malaysians training the US Marines at jungle warfare.
In the decades in the fight against the Communists, there is no
record of a Malaysian soldier taken alive. In Singapore's case
during the 'Confrontation' against the Indonesians, there is one
sorry episode the Singaporeans would like to forget involving the
1st Singapore Infantry Regiment. The Malaysian military remembers
it's past, this is an incident which took place in the Congo in the
sixties, when 13 Italian airmen, who took refuge at a Malaysian
camp, were surrenderd to the rebels by a Malaysian Company
Commander, of the 6th Battalion of the Royal Malay Regiment(refer
to book by Lt. Col Maurice Lam). The 13 airmen were literally
hacked to pieces in front of them.One of the reasons why the
Malaysians did not turn down the Americans.
Just to show a weakness in Singapore's anti-armour weaponry, the
MILAN needs to stabilize after launch for 400 meters, meaning it
needs flat and a clear area before it is guided onto the target.
There are not many open places in Malaysia to accomodate that.
There are many other weaknesses that I will not mention here. The
AWACs, Singapore has, are nearing shelf life, the Malaysians are
going to acquire new ones. The Singapore subs are second hand and
their tanks are antiquated AMX which have been upgraded so many
times, using Frog (French) technology and the British Centurions.
Their APCs are still with technology from the sixties. The
Malaysian tanks which will be acquired are from the New Europe,
Poland. Malaysians are in the process of getting new IFVs from
Turkey. Very effective air defence systems are being
purchased.
The 'Apache' helicopters AH64D have not been very effective against
the enemy on the ground, proven in Karbala and Operation Anaconda.
The'turkey shoot" during the Gulf war was a one sided affair on a
retreating enemy during the first Gulf War, creating a myth on the
invincibility of the Apache. Helicopters that attacked Iraqi
Republican Guard units south of Baghdad on March 24 03."In
attacking a formation of about 40 Apache Longbows on Monday, the
Iraqis staged a classic helicopter ambush first perfected by the
North Vietnamese in the 1960s. As the lethal, tank-killing aircraft
approached on a mission to destroy the Medina Division's dispersed
armor, troops dispersed throughout a palm-lined residential area
and opened fire with antiaircraft guns, rocket-propelled grenades
and a wall of fire from rifles and other small arms. ... "The Iraqi
fire was so intense that the Apaches had to break off their mission
and return to base." The results of that failed mission strongly
suggest that the modern helicopter is a battlefield liability
Malaysia has MLRS regiments, where the dream target for an MLRS
regiment is one such as Singapore, compact and dense.This is a
quantum leap of firepower for Malaysia. Malaysia has currently 70
combat aircraft compared to Singapore's 150 combat aircraft. That
gap will be narrowed when the Malaysians take dlivery of 18 F-18
Super Hornets and 24 Sukhois. Malaysia will not have limited
warfare conducted on Singapore but total destruction.
This is an extract from an article by Derek da Cunha of the
Institute of South East Asian Studies, " The Singapore Armed Forces
could be described as a rapier, it is manoeuvrable, slick, and, in
the hands of a skilled swordsman, can do all the fancy moves in
attempting to deliver the lethal stab. On the other hand the
Malaysian Armed Forces is like a broadsword; it's not very
manoeuvrable, not slick, and, even in the hands of a skilled
swordsman is unlikely to do all the fancy moves. Indeed it is
fairly lumbering and unwieldy. However, in the ultimate analysis, a
single slash of the broadsword could well result in the rapier
snapping in half".
Malaysian terrain is very tough for the unexposed or the
uninitiated. Allow me to paint a war scenario. Before that have a
glimpse of some of Malaysia's naval vessels. Here is part of the
details. More on the surface vessels. .
Malaysia and Singapore water talks (50% of Singapore's water needs
is supplied by Malaysia) bog down and there is this ill feeling
meanwhile there is this young gungho Commander of a Singapore
warship the the RSS Battleaxe guarding the territorial waters off
Pedro Branca, also on his mind is his impending divorce where he is
going to lose his HDB flat to his wife all because he had a one
night stand. This is nagging him constantly, meaning he is not in
the correct frame of mind.
Along comes KD Hang Lekir, a corvette on orders by the Defence
Minister to permanently station it in the waters off Pedro Branca,
due to the failure of the water talks. Guns and radar are on
'active stations'. The Singapore Commander gets a report that there
is a signature on the radar of a fast moving large vessel, orders
'action stations'. The commander of Hang Lekir, gets a report that
guns are locked onto his vessel, he orders counter measures and
simultaneously ranges on the Singapore vessel. RSS Battleaxe's
Commander misinterprets this as hostile action and elevates status
to 'battle stations'. Commander of RMN Hang Lekir is on the hotline
to fleet operations, which in turn turns to MINDEF, Chief of
Defence Forces, responds placing all forces on a high alert.
JERNAS area air defence system. JERNAS is the only land-based air
defence system designed to defeat the most severe threats,
including cruise missiles and smart munitions.The AMS Blindfire
weapon control radar provides JERNAS with an all-weather day and
night capability. Fast acquisition and extremely accurate tracking
of the target and the missile in flight give the air defence system
unique dual engagement capability. With pencil beamwidth, high
power, adaptive wide-band frequency agility, very low side lobes
and smart digital processing, the radar is immune to all forms of
jamming.
What does this mean ? It means jets are scrambled to have an air
defence capability, with jets on tarmacs waiting to take off. These
events are monitored by Singapore's E2C-Hawkeye aircraft, they
alert Singapore's MINDEF. Meanwhile the drama on the high seas is
unfolding, commander of KD Hang Lekir is told not to engage unless
fired upon, the RSS Battleaxe is a FAC(Fast Attack Craft) with 20mm
Bofors opens fire on KD Hang Lekir, this corvette, one of the most
modern is South East Asia can simultaneously engage targets under
the sea, on the surface and air. The commander, to defend a
strategic asset from being destroyed and who also who wants to
become rear-admiral before the age of 38, orders launch of a ship
to ship missile. The RSS Battleaxe is no more. The wife of the
Commander of RSS Battleaxe will definitely get the HDB flat. All
these is observed by the E2C and reported.
MINDEF gets radio stations to announce codes for mobilization. The
Malaysian electronic counter counter measures unit gets to pick up
this information and passes it along.Goh, gets on the hotline and
calls Dr.M, accusing him of sinking a Singapore warship, Dr. M
retorts that it was the Singapore ship that fired first. They
continue arguing. Meanwhile, the strategic division is ordered to
move to Johore, which it has rehearsed countless times times and
played the game against a Southern enemy. Malaysian airdefence
radars (Marconi- Martello Systems) and AWACs picks up fast moving
aircraft intruding into Malaysian airspace.
All jets at Butterworth, Kuantan,Gong Kedak and Subang are
scrambled, whilst the jets in East Malaysia are placed on alert,
with Malaysian AWACs monitoring airspace in Taiwan and areas south
of the Borneo island, for Singapore's reserve jet fighters coming
in to join the fight. Simultaneously looking for Singapore's
airtankers to be destroyed, before they refuel the RSAF jets coming
in from Australia, Taiwan and the US. Many aircraft go down,
Singapore's and Malaysia's, there is air parity. Malaysian fighters
manage to penetrate into Singapore airspace and destroy 2 KC-130
tankers and 2 Stratotankers diminishing Singapore's air to air
refuelling capability.
Malaysian naval ships and submarines scatter to sink and destroy
Singapore's navy and merchant navy, concentrating near the straits
of Tebrau, as there is air parity. The airborne brigade is ordered
to conduct a linkup operation along the Mersing, Layang-Layang, JB
line. The Army units in JB are ordered to defend JB, the Tebrau
straits is flooded with napalm, benzine, and crude at likely
footholds for the Singaporeans.
Singapore's Guards regiments which are heliborne will have to
reckon with the Malaysian airborne at all strategic routes which it
has to secure for it's armoured formations along three axis Kota
Tinggi-Jemaluang-Mersing, Layang-Layang-Rengam-Keluang and JB-Air
Hitam-Yong Peng with it's antiquated AMX and Centurions. The
defence of these axis has been done numerous times by Malaysian
troops on exercises. Meanwhile special forces snipers armed with
12.7 mm Barret rifles will go into hides to take out Singaporean
armour at a range of 1.5 km with armour piercing rounds. Infantry
taking up positions in strong points with AGLs and anti-tank
weapons.
PT-91 Twardy Main Battle Tank. The Singaporean antiquated AMX (so
called upgraded)and Centurion tanks will have to contend with
this.The PT-91 MBT is equpped with the Fire Control System
consisting of Gunner Station. It basis on modernized TPDK-1 sight
for day channel and optionally passive PCN-A sight or thermal
imagine sight, which create night fighting capability. The fire
solutions are calculated by the ballistic, digital computer which
processes mixed set of information generated by set of sensors and
input manually by the gunner.
Air defence batteries are deployed, with shoulder held
anti-aircraft missiles (Starburst systems, Iglas and Jernas). The
Malaysian armoured and mechanized formations will race to link up
with the airborne. Singapore needs to cross the straits to get its
troops across, heavy casualties are inflicted, Malaysians fall back
to conduct a delaying and mobile defence, all these are covered by
air and artillery.
Malaysians have trained year in year out to march in full combat
gear over 40 kms in under 10 hours and construct fire trenches with
overhead protection within 8 hours. Laying of obstacles comes next,
it is actually a breeze considering the terrain one is familiar
with. Independent and co-ordinated tank hunting parties will be
sent out. The Singapore advance bogs down at Muar. The US cannot
come running, as it is bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Guerilla war by Malaysian units are conducted at the rear echelons
of the already very stretched Singapore supply lines, who also face
a very hostile populace.
Malaysia signs deal worth $48 million with Russia's Rosoboronexport
to purchase its IGLA short-range air defense system.
Defending a Small Nation and all about Malaysia.
Its probably at this stage that the diplomats, and the UN will come
into play....... This is the otherside of a war scenario, to be
more detailed will make this long and probably boring. There is
always another side to a coin.
