History and Anyversary Malaysian Army Celebrating

Although the Malay States Volunteer Rifles existed since 1915, the Army traces its heritage to the forming up of the initial elements of The Malay Regiment on March 1,1933 at the Haig Lines in Port Dickson in the state of Negeri Sembilan. This was after The Federal Consultative Council of the Federated Malay States passed. The Malay Regiment Bill, as Act No 11 following the approval by the British War Office for the formation of a military force voiced by the local population through the urging of several Malay Rulers. The regiment had two line infantry battalions by the time World War II began, in which its soldiers fought gallantly until her capitulation at the Battle of Singapore in 1942.

The 1st Battalion of the Malay Regiment was famous for its defence of Opium Hill or Bukit Chandu. The ‘Battle of Opium Hill’ on February 14, 1942 involved 42 soldiers commanded by Lt Adnan Saidi, defending their position against the attack from the 18th Division of the Japanese Imperial Army. The Malay Regiment now consists of 25 Battalions and has a distinguished record of service in the Second World War, the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s and the Indonesian Confrontation in the 1960s. In 1960, the Regiment was given the ‘Royal’ accord and is now known as the Royal Malay Regiment. The Regiment now consists of 25 Battalions and has a distinguished record of service in the Second World War, The Malaysian Emergency in the 1950s and the Indonesian Confrontation in the 1960s. More recently, the Regiment's 19 (Mechanised) Battalion were involved in the rescue of downed American servicemen during The Battle of Mogadishu in 1993 – a story immortalised in the Hollywood film 'Black Hawk Down'.

Another combat unit of the Malaysian Army is the Royal Ranger Regiment. Following the formation of Malaysia in Sept 16 1963, the Sarawak Rangers was transferred from the British Colonial Forces to the new Malaysian Army and expanded into a multi-battalion regiment named Renjer Malaysia. This became the Rejimen Renjer in 1971, before being given the 'Royal' prefix and hence known as the Rejimen Renjer DiRaja (Royal Ranger Regiment) in 1992. The RRD is organized in the same way as the RAMD and currently consists of nine battalions some of which are mechanised and airborne. With regard to the task-oriented requirement, the Malaysian Army has, amongst others, the Special Services Group (SSG) which was formed on January 1, 1981.

However, its origin goes back to 1965, during the peak of the ‘Confrontation’ between Malaysia and Indonesia. It was raised as the Malaysian Special Services Unit (MSSU) comprising initially of special highly trained personnel (then from the Malaysian Army and the Royal Malaysian Navy) to conduct special tasks and missions which included raids on key enemy installations, harassing enemy personnel, surveillance and collection of intelligence. Having originally been trained by the 40 British Royal Marine Commando, the nature of this unit’s tasks were more amphibious biased. When ‘Confrontation’ ceased, the unit was retained and further expanded to undertake special tasks, including combating the Communists terrorists during counter-insurgency operations.

The present roles of the SSG, which has been expanded to three regiments, is to provide resources and capabilities in conducting specialised tasks, including airborne and small-scale amphibious missions, either independently, jointly or in close cooperation with other regular formations, mainly in enemyheld areas. The Malaysian Army now has an operationally ready Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) which is the 10 Brigade Para, comprising a headquarters, three infantry battalions and one support company, one tank squadron, one engineers squadron, one artillery regiment, other service support and logistics elements, with strategic mobility being provided by the RMAF’s 12 C-130H/H-30 and six CN-235-220 transport aircraft.