ASD SHINN AND DASD CLAD MEETINGS IN KUALA LUMPUR

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUALA LUMPUR 000336 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR PHU E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/30/2028 TAGS: PREL MOPS MARR AF LE MY RP SU SUBJECT: ASD SHINN AND DASD CLAD MEETINGS IN KUALA LUMPUR Classified By: DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION DAVID B. SHEAR, AMERICAN EMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR; REASON: 1.4(B AND D) ¶1. (U) Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia Pacific James Shinn and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Southeast Asia James Clad visited Kuala Lumpur April 23-24, meeting with Deputy Defense Minister The Honorable Daduk Wira Abu Seman, Ministry of Defense Secretary General Dato hj Abu Bakar; Under Secretary for Policy Dr. hj Ismail; and Joint Force Commander Lt Gen Dato Allatif. U.S.-Malaysia Bilateral Security Relations -------------- ¶2. (C) Bilateral Talks: Malaysian interlocutors expressed strong support for the level of bilateral cooperation. Bakar and Ismail agreed on the desirability of increased bilateral exchanges on security policy, but wanted keep the talks informal. They hoped to conduct such exchanges periodically, but avoided a commitment to, for example, scheduled annual talks. Both sides agreed that it would be useful for DASD Clad to return to Malaysia for a more extensive exchange on policy later in the year. ¶3. (C) 1206: Civilian and military officials expressed appreciation and strong support for the U.S. funding provided to Malaysia under Title 1206 of the Defense Authorization Act ($12 million in FY08) for the construction of coastal radars in Eastern Sabah. SecGen Bakar said that the Malaysian side recognized the value of such radars in increasing maritime domain awareness and bolstering border control and the effort to stem terrorist use of Malaysian transit routes between Indonesia and the Southern Philippines. Lt Gen Allatif reported that the program was on track, but had been delayed slightly by the difficulty of acquiring land for the radars. ¶4. (C) FMS: SecGen Bakar noted that his Ministry wants to rationalize the defense procurement process. He hopes the new approach will be based more on good assessments of what Malaysian forces require than on what foreign suppliers offer to sell. He said in this connection that he likes the way the U.S. manages sales overseas through the FMS system, which is thorough and covers parts and maintenance as well as sales. He also indicated that he hoped Malaysia could buy more via FMS, but did not specify what his ministry had in mind. Peacekeeping -------------- ¶5. (C) The American side noted Malaysia's positive contributions to peacekeeping and hoped that the U.S. and Malaysia could continue cooperation in peacekeeping exercising and training. Lt Gen Allatif replied that Malaysia would like to continue to participate in more UN-mandated peacekeeping operations but its funding and capabilities were limited. Both SecGen Bakar and Lt Gen Allatif expressed frustration with the lack of progress in negotiations between the Philippine Government and the MILF, noting that continued Malaysian participation in the International Monitoring Team was under review. (NOTE: The GOM informed the Embassy April 28 that it planned to withdraw the Malaysian contingent in stages starting in May.) Lt Gen Allatif reported that Malaysia plans to expand its presence in Lebanon from 360 to 560 in the coming months and that he would travel to Lebanon to review the status of the Malaysian contingent within the week. He also said that Malaysia is considering the deployment of a battalion sized element to Sudan and that an on-the-ground survey was currently being conducted. KEITH