Malaysian Scorpene Submarines Go to Sabah's East Coast after Ten Years in the State

A decade after becoming part of the nation's defences, the Scorpene submarines of the Royal Malaysian Navy have made its first appearance in the waters off Sabah's east coast

KD Tunku Abdul Rahman was seen for the time in eastern Sabah waters carrying out an operation in waters off Sandakan on Monday (Nov 26).

The submarine, linked to a fresh corruption probe and murdered Mongolian model and translator Altantuya Shaariibuu, has never been deployed on the east coast even though it had been based in Sabah's waters over a decade ago.

It was reported previously that the waters were too shallow in the east coast of the state for the submarine.

KD Tunku Abdul Rahman sailed from its submarine base at Sepanggar to the Sandakan Region Two Naval base for a joint operation with other naval assets in the east coast.

“It was involved in a series of operations with KD Sri Johor to test their capabilities along the eastern Sabah sea border," said the Navy in a statement.The operations also saw the Navy’s Fennec helicopters being tested. This was for the transfer of personnel from helicopter to submarine and vice versa.

In its statement, the Navy said that the training would allow various naval assets in the east coast of Sabah to work with each other and with submarines.

The Navy added that this will also help the Navy test its procedures on the sea, underwater and work with aerial support.

"It will also test the preparedness of crews in the event of any threats,” the Navy said.

The navy said that the operations reflected the commitment of the Navy to secure the borders of Sabah's east coast against any threats by ensuring security in the maritime operational area in the the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone).

The presence of KD Tunku Abdul Rahman is also a message to the communities that the Navy was present and ready to deploy its assets to act against any threat.

KD Tunku Abdul Rahman is one of the two Scorpene submarines bought by the previous Barisan Nasional government that is currently under a fresh probe by corruption investigators.

It had also been linked to the case of murdered Mongolian model and translator Altantuya Shaariibuu.