Malaysia’s participation in Gulf Shield lauded

DAMMAM (Saudi Arabia): Malaysia’s participation in the Gulf Shield 1 Joint Exercise which went on parade on Saturday received the thumbs up from many Saudis.

Many interviewed at the parade in Madain near here said they appreciated the show of support by the Malaysian Armed Forces to jointly defend peace and stability in the Gulf region.

“We know that Malaysia is a faraway land from the Gulf region but the fact that it still participated in the joint exercise only proves that Malaysia is a peaceloving nation,” said a Saudi official who wished to remain anonymous.

He said due to the distance it was understandable if Malaysia’s participation involved only manpower as it could not bring along its weaponry and other logistics like other closer neighbours.

Another Saudi government official said Saudi Arabia highly valued all the expertise that Malaysia shared during the exercise which took place from March 27 to April 7.

The Gulf Shield 1 was the biggest joint military exercise ever held in the region going by the number of the 24 participating countries, which also included Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It conducted two phases of combined exercise, namely Command Post Exercise through simulation throughout the Eastern Command Area of Saudi Armed Forces and Field Training Exercise at the Samit Madain field by the sea.

As an appreciation to Malaysia and other countries’ participation, their flags, including Jalur Gemilang, were flown above the Madain sky which was witnessed by some 200 foreign journalists here to cover the Arab League Summit yesterday.

A Saudi youth, Imran Musaii said his country needed to be wary of any possibilities now that threats like the missile attacks by the Houthis from Yemen was almost a daily affair.

“There are also imminent threats by country or countries unfriendly to us. We need to be alert.

“We need to ensure the safety of the Muslim holy land. For helping us, we thank you Malaysia,” he added.