Paskal personnel to be doubled — Commander

KUALA LUMPUR: The number of Special Navy Warfare Force ( Paskal) personnel will be doubled starting this year, says its commander First Admiral Anuar Alias.

He said the strength of the elite team, whose numbers were kept secret, should be increased following the current challenging maritime threat.

“I have been instructed to increase the number of existing personnel using various approaches.

“My approach is the transformation of basic commando courses. Of the 25 successful candidates for each previous intake, we can improve with the transformation of the training system without affecting the quality of the results,” he said.

He said this after participating in the ‘ Ruang Bicara’ talkshow entitled ‘Paskal Collaborates to Produce Movie’ on Bernama News Channel here Tuesday night.

Anuar said each Paskal personnel had to pass three courses, namely basic commando, diving and basic parachuting.

Asked if Paskal, which was set up on Oct 1, 1982, would consider the involvement of women, he said the force was not ready for it but it could be done starting with female divers.

Directed by Adrian Tan, ‘Paskal’ tells the story of the dedication and sacrifice of members in the elite squad and also revolves around rescue missions executed by members of the squad in Angola back in 1998 and the MT Bunga Laurel hijacking in 2011.

The cast list includes Hairul Azreen, Ammar Alfian, Henley Hii, Taufiq Hanafi, Gambit Saifullah, Hafi zul Kamal, Theebaan G and Jasmine Suraya Chin.