M'sia slammed for joining Rimpac war exercise with US, Israel

The Royal Malaysian Navy has been condemned by a pro-Palestine group for participating in the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (Rimpac), a naval warfare exercise, alongside countries like Israel and the United States, despite ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza.

The NGO Gegar Amerika said participating in the war games bolsters Israel’s “genocidal capabilities” and aligns Malaysia with “imperialists”.

“Not only does Rimpac bolster the Zionist regime's genocidal capabilities, it contributes to the colonial occupation of the Pacific by Western powers, threatens an annihilationist war against rival powers such as China, and destroys the native lands and waters of Indigenous communities in Hawaii,” it said in a statement.

“From Palestine to Hawaii; West Papua to Kanaky, we demand decolonisation, demilitarisation, and liberation across West Asia, the Pacific and the entire Global South.”

Largest naval warfare exercise

Rimpac 2024, which concludes today, is the world’s largest exercise and involves 29 nations and 25,000 personnel. The exercise is held biennially in Hawaii.

Touted as an opportunity for joint training, the exercise is hosted and administered by the US Navy’s Indo-Pacific Command in Pearl Harbour, with the US Marine Corp, US Coast Guard and Hawaii National Guard.

The organisers said during Rimpac, participating forces “integrate and exercise a wide range of capabilities, from disaster relief to maritime security operations, and from sea control to complex warfighting”.

“The exercise’s purpose is to build relationships, to enhance interoperability and proficiency and, ultimately, contribute to the peace and stability in the vitally-important Indo-Pacific region,” said US vice-admiral John Wade, Rimpac 2024 Combined Task Force commander, at a press conference on June 27.

The Royal Malaysian Navy’s KD Lekiu participated alongside vessels and forces from countries like the United States, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Japan and South Korea.

The Philippine Navy joined as observers.

Responding to earlier calls for Malaysia to not join Rimpac 2024, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said any decision should not compromise Malaysia's position.

"If we were to follow the suggested approaches, we would need to halt the operations of companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple and Facebook."

He also stressed that "no other country is as vocal as Malaysia on the Israel issue".

"We protest every day," he told reporters in May.

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