KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 — The government has a comprehensive plan to maintain and increase security, especially in Sabah, said Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

He said the move, among others, involved the construction of the new Fifth Brigade camp besides joint monitoring by the three branches of the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) in areas identified to be at risk of security threat.

“The new army camp in Felda Sahabat, Fifth Brigade camp in Kota Belud that will be built will act as an ‘in-depth element’ which will always be ready to assist the ‘forward element’ at the borders when needed to defend Sabah from threats.

“The security surveillance in Sabah, especially in its east coast area, has been enhanced by the monitoring of all three branches of the MAF in the Kukusan Tawau Camp,” he said at the winding up of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Hishammuddin said the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) had been stationed at the Eastern Fleet Command Headquarters in Kota Kinabalu to command naval bases in Sabah and Sarawak.

“The Naval Region 2 Base (Mawilla 2) has been stationed in Sandakan to monitor the east coast of Sabah while the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) has stationed its Air Base in Labuan as well as the air operations assistance centre in Tawau for the purpose of monitoring the security of the state’s air space,” he said.

He added that to further strengthen security, the Defence Ministry is developing the Naval Region 4 Headquarters (Mawilla 4) in Sarawak, specifically in Bintulu.

“This is all under planning and will be carried out in stages, what I have tabled is understood to be sufficient to ensure security in Sabah for now.

“But, in time to come, if there is sufficient allocation for personnel and assets then attention will be focused on other areas in the state,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hishammuddin said construction work on the RMN’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) project, which began in 2010 and approved on March 23, 2011 through the 10th Malaysia Plan and 11th Malaysia Plan, was now at 57.05 per cent compared to the original work schedule plan of 95.94 per cent.

“That’s what we have achieved as of September 15 and, overall, the project is delayed by 38.89 per cent, therefore for this delay the government has imposed a late fine of about RM80.6 million,” he said.

He was replying to a question from Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (PH-Port Dickson), who asked about the transparency of the procurement tender for the LCS project. — Bernama