MDIO’S TIES WITH FIVE EYES DO NOT COMPROMISE M’SIA’S NEUTRALITY - ADLY

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 (Bernama) -- The Defence Ministry (MINDEF) has stressed that the involvement of the Malaysian Defence Intelligence Organisation (MDIO) in joint intelligence exercises with Five Eyes partner countries does not compromise Malaysia’s neutral foreign policy.

Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US).

Deputy Defence Minister Adly Zahari said Malaysia maintains balanced defence ties with major powers and uses international exercises to strengthen its military expertise.

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“As a neutral nation, Malaysia remains open to cooperation through bilateral and multilateral exercises.

“The collaboration (with Five Eyes) not only strengthens our personnel’s expertise, but also provides an important platform to understand and operate defence technology better, as much of our military assets are sourced from developed countries,” he said during the oral question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was responding to a supplementary question from Mohamad Shafizan Kepli (GPS-Batang Lupar) on whether MDIO’s cooperation with Five Eyes militaries affects Malaysia’s neutrality, particularly its relations with major powers such as China.

Adly said the cooperation is carried out selectively within existing defence frameworks and in line with the National Defence White Paper, aiming to strengthen expertise sharing, enhance intelligence analysis capabilities, uphold professional standards, and provide exposure to international best practices.

He said MDIO participates in only bilateral and multilateral exercises with Five Eyes countries hosted by the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) headquarters, including Cobra Gold and Bersama Warrior training with the US, Bersama Lima training with the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, and the Indo-Pacific Intelligence Chiefs Tabletop Exercise.

“This approach aims to enhance the skills and professionalism of MAF personnel while safeguarding the nation’s sovereignty, confidentiality, and security,” he said.

--BERNAMA