Individual Offenses Cannot Be Equated With The Entire Armed Forces - RAFOC President

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 (Bernama) -- The recent corruption issue involving active Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) senior officers has not only affected the image of those involved, but erodes public trust in the Armed Forces’ professionalism and the level of ethical leadership of the entire military institution.

Retired Armed Forces Officers’ Corps Association (RAFOC) presidentLt Gen (R) Datuk Seri Dr Abdul Aziz Ibrahim said that even veterans, long held in high regard by the public, have had to deal with the negative fallout, being made to feel somehow responsible for the current misconduct.

“It’s vital to stress that offences committed by individuals cannot be equated with failure of the entire institution. But at the same time, an institution with authority and credibility must not remain silent in the face of misconduct within it.

“Transparency, firmness, and accountability are the foundations of public trust. Without principled action, space will open up for a culture of ‘armed forces bashing’, a decline in the morale of personnel who continue to serve honestly, and long-term damage to the image of the nation’s defence institutions,” he said.

He also pointed out that respect for the armed forces’ professionalism did not happen overnight, but was the result of the sacrifices of generations of personnel and veterans, including the wounded, fallen and those killed in operations defending the country’s sovereignty, such as during the Confrontation and the Communist insurgency.

As such, veterans would continue playing their part in defending the dignity of the institution by differentiating between the individual and the system, support ethical leadership reforms, and protect subordinates still serving with integrity.

He stressed that the MAF was not owned by any one individual, nor a single generation but was a national trust.

“Veterans are the custodians of values, witnesses to history, and the final bulwark of military professionalism. If veterans choose to remain silent today, the existing crisis of trust will be passed on to future generations of the armed forces.

“It would be a failure unacceptable to anyone who has taken the oath to defend the country,” he added.

-- BERNAMA