Money spent on defence is like paying a premium on your insurance policy. The more money you pay, the better the benefits.

According to MGG Pillai, the Panhard tank we used to have in our inventory were more suitable, but just to clear the air, Panhards are not tanks. They are armoured personnel carriers or APCs.

Malaysia has five armored regiments, the first four regiments are equipped with Ferret scout cars, 4 x 4 Radpanzer Condors and 6 x 6 fire support vehicles known as Sibmas. All these vehicles are wheeled.

The fifth regiment is equipped with Scorpions, which have been modified with 90 mm guns, adversely affecting the performance of these vehicles. For the assault troops in this regiment they ride in Stormers.

The gunnery systems do not have stabilisers which are used to lock on, while on the move, and hit the target. All the vehicles in this regiment are tracked.

The Scorpion is not a tank, as a lot of people have been led to believe. In it's original form it is known as a 'Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance' or in it's abbreviated form known as a CVR. So Malaysia does not have any tanks in it's inventory. Period !

The Malaysian army has three Mechanized Infantry Battalions, two are wheeled and one is tracked, there are plans to have them all converted to tracked vehicles at some point.

The 19th Battalion Royal Malay Regiment, was wheeled when it was blooded in Somalia. Mechanized infantry are soldiers who fight dismounted from the objective, beyond the objective and on the objective.

Sometimes there is no need to dismount. The armor the infantry rides in, are known as Armored Personnel Carriers, due to the evolving nature of warfare, they are currently known as Infantry Fighting Vehicles, though all are not in the same class.

Commonly the vehicles are abbreviated to IFV's. These vehicles are vulnerable to other larger calibre guns. If a hit is scored on an IFV, a whole section of men are lost, meaning 10 soldiers may die. Mechanized infantry does not operate alone as it is very vulnerable, therefore it operates with tank regiments, in small groups known as combat teams and larger groups known as battle groups.

Tanks provide firepower and shock action, the mechanized infantry provide what the normal infantry provide except that they have their own fire systems, have armour protection and they ride into battle. Warfare has evolved, situations in a battlefield are fluid, no more is holding ground essential unless for needs of delay or deception.

Now we come to the unhappiness of writers related to the buying of tanks. We have a responsibility towards our soldiers to provide the best fighting equipment, so that they live to fight another day. War is hell.

In fact the tanks we are buying cannot be compared to the M1 A2 Abrams (USA), Leopard 2 (German), Le Clerc (French), Merkava (Israel) or the Challenger (British). Our officers and soldiers I am sure given the choice, would opt for American or German tanks. They come with some sophisticated gear, currently not in our inventory.

Tanks operate on a one shot, first kill and it normally takes a tank to kill a tank. In a combat team or battle group, tanks and mechanized infantry attack on a separate axis, same axis or a converging axis, they complement one another.

The tanks might be used to exploit the ground after an objective is taken, all this is subject to the situation. Of course they will be supported by other combat arms like the artillery, engineers, air defence and so forth. They can do this as they have good communications. The whole idea is to have minimum casualties and attain the best outcome.

The Malaysian Army doctrine is ' to evict an entrenched enemy' on Malaysian soil. Who or where will the threat come from we can only guess.

Let's look at our neighbours. Singapore has jet fighters stashed in Australia, Taiwan, USA and within the island . Singapore has French AMX main battle tanks which have been upgraded and 60 British Centurion main battle tanks.

The republic s armed forces are equipped with self propelled 155mm general support guns (range 55km), 120mm mortars and a array of other weapons. It has designed, built and currently trying to market it's version of an IFV.

They have hundreds of M113's, which are their current IFV's. The republic s armed forces conduct rehearsals towards south Johor on ramps in the Tebrau Straits. They have ordered Apache AH 64D attack helicopters, equipped with Longbow radar. These are primarily for ground targets.

The Longbow radar can search an area 50 sq km in less than 6 seconds and are the most advanced in the Pentagon inventory. Normally deployed as frontline tank busters. The south of Johor has vast golf courses, very nice beachheads for a battle group to gain a foothold.

Singapore Armed Forces can place 500,000 men and women under arms within 24 hours. It has AWAC's to monitor it's airspace 24 hours a day , which isn't big, and places more emphasis on it's neighbours.

Its air force has contingencies to take off and land on expressways. Malaysias north-south highway could accommodate such an eventuality for them. It s navy has submarines. It has Israeli military advisors. It has a total defense doctrine, where its civilian population is trained for all and any eventuality. For a puny island nation, it is indeed a formidable adversary and it is indeed the superpower in South East Asia.

Currently Indonesia is the most unstable country in South East Asia. For those with short memories it tried to invade Malaysia once. There are still advocates of a greater Indonesia who preach expansion.

In World War II Thailand allowed the invading Japanese army to march right through to take South East Asia. Then there is the problem of the Patani Liberation Organisation, which if not handled well could blow over.

Burmese and Thai border forces have exchanged fire in the past and this has been ongoing with tension created within Burma by different ethnic groups like the Karen which has spilled over into Thailand.

In the East we have Sabah, which is deemed to be part of the Philippines, by the nationalists. That issue is currently on the back burner. Wait until their economy recovers and they become a wealthy nation and radical nationalist rule her.

Malaysia has always been considered a dove in this region. War is an extension of a nations political will. It is always good to be diplomatic, to avoid war at all costs is always a very good outcome.

Hence to that end it is in the nations best interest to be well equipped militarily as this serves as a deterrence and makes for good political gamesmanship in any negotiation..

The question the critics should ask, is why do our neighbours possess such a lethal arsenal.