Johor MP mistakes S’pore military jets as invasion, turns out to be joint exercise with M’sia as host

Malaysia – Johor Member of Parliament Hassan Abdul Karim (Pasir Gudang) recently called on the Malaysian government to investigate the sightings of Singapore military aircraft into Malaysian airspace, which turned out to be a joint exercise between the two countries.

“Incidents of airspace invasion in our country seem to happen frequently after the federal government raised the issue to review the case of Pulau Batu Puteh or Pedra Blanca,” said Mr Hassan, reported Malay Mail.

He highlighted receiving complaints regarding the incident from members of the public, especially those residing in the Pasir Gudang and Tebrau parliamentary constituencies.

“They complained to me about the frequency of sightings that the Republic of Singapore’s military planes were flying low in the airspace adjacent to Singapore,” said Mr Hassan.

He called on the federal and Johor governments, including the Foreign Ministry and Defence Ministry, to take note of and investigate the “incident of Malaysian airspace invasion by foreign aircraft.”

On Wednesday (Oct 20), Singapore’s Ministry of Defence (Mindef) released a statement explaining the incident.

“The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) has been participating in Exercise Bersama Gold, a Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) exercise,” said Mindef.

It noted that the exercise was held from Oct 4 to 8 and hosted by the Malaysian Armed Forces.

The event was conducted in the FPDA’s traditional exercise area over Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and adjoining waters.

It involved contactless air and maritime practice serials through manoeuvring, gunnery firings, anti-submarine and air defence.

The exercise ended on Oct 18 with a flypast and naval vessel display in Singapore, featuring FPDA member nations’ fighter aircraft, helicopters, naval vessels ad maritime patrol aircraft.

“The countries’ aircraft had obtained the requisite approvals to enter Malaysian and Singapore territorial airspace, including the airspace over Southern Johor,” said Mindef.

“Information on the aircraft activities as part of the exercise was publicly promulgated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia and Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore on Sept 9 and 10,” Mindef added. /TISG

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