Malaysian Military Weapons Lack Standardized Management System

On a special occasion when Brigadier General Tan Sri Muhammad Ismail accepted some questions raised by the writer of this special feature of the Oriental Daily News, our Malaysian Army Chief has given his assurance that all the military weapons kept in the army camps throughout the country were safe. He said: "This is because the weapon storage places have strict security measure." Brigade General Tan Sri Muhammad Ismail also said he has kept reminding his commanders the importance of looking after the security of military weapons and equipment kept in the army camps throughout the country.

Brigade General Tan Sri Muhammad Ismail said that currently, the Malaysian Army has installed a computer system called CODIMS which is a system dedicated to monitor all the equipment in the Malaysian Army. However, as for an overall national weapon control and monitoring system, he confessed that the Ministry of Defense still did not have a standardized computerized weapon monitoring and control systems for all different units of the military barracks and camps in different places in the country.

Roof of Weapon Storage Area Sealed
It is learnt that in many weapon storage places inside the army barracks across the country, soldiers are still using the regular patrolling method to inspect the arsenal condition inside the camps. Such a method is quite difficult for senior commanders to learn or know the actual status or whereabouts of the weapons.

In response to such concern, Brigadier General Tan Sri Muhammad Ismail said that the weapon storage places were fenced, weapons were kept in steel cabinets, and the roofs of the arsenals were sealed to prevent outsiders from climbing in through the roofs. Moreover, the military also has strict weapon control process that could prevent weapons from illegally taken out from the barracks.

Nevertheless, Brigadier General Tan Sri Muhammad Ismail did mention that many of the present military barracks and camps were built during the British colonial period. As of today, many of them were in very bad shape. He said the Malaysian Army would apply for fund to renovate all the military camps and facilities under the Tenth Malaysia Plan. He added that at the same time he would also request fund to upgrade the weapon monitoring and control system.

Loopholes in Traditional System
Castle Technology Pte Ltd is a local company that provides armament management solutions. When asked to comment, its managing director Liu Qi Hao said that the Malaysian army barracks were established during British colonial ruled era. He said that the characteristics of the weapon storage method used by the British Army then was based on the use of chains and locks. The better one weapon houses would add in iron cabinets and one additional set of chains and locks.

In addition, they also used logbooks and set regular time to inspect the conditions of the weapons. This management method was simple and the maintenance cost was also low. But there were many disadvantages also. Liu Qi Hao pointed out that: First, all the firearms were constantly chained and locked. It was a hassle either to take them out to use or to keep them. Second, the contents of the logbooks were more error-prone and the writing on the logbooks could turn blur, or in the worst scenario, the whole record book could be misplaced or missing from sight.