Malaysian Minister of Defence Hishammuddin Hussein said his country would implement new measures to strengthen security in the Sabah sea, including the fight against the so-called Islamic State and terrorist groups in southern Philippines.
Hishammuddin emphasised that one of the new measures is to strengthen power for the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM) with new and modern weapons.
The Malaysian armed forces have defined five areas in need of increasing monitoring and control in the eastern Sabah sea coast and surrounding seas, he added.
These areas will be installed coastal monitoring systems using the AESA Spexer 2000 radar and automatic identification systems.
On the formation of Brigade No. 31, Hishammuddin said since January 2016, the Malaysian military has recruited nearly 40% of the staff for five battalions in the brigade.
Besides that, the country continues cooperation with Indonesia via the Malaysia-Indonesia Border Committee to enhance security between Sabah, Sarawak and Kalimantan.
