History of special operations forces in Malaysia
Authors
Rahman, Shamsul Afkar bin Abd
Subjects
Special Operations Forces
Special Forces
Insurgency
Counterinsurgency
Unconventional Warfare
Irregular Warfare
Counterterrorism
Lines of Development
Malaysia
Special Forces
Insurgency
Counterinsurgency
Unconventional Warfare
Irregular Warfare
Counterterrorism
Lines of Development
Malaysia
Advisors
Sepp, Kalev I.
Date of Issue
2013-06
Date
Jun-13
Publisher
Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
From 1941 to 1990, Malaysia was involved in violent conflicts against internal and external threats. Most military literature does not emphasize the role of Special Operations Forces (SOF) during these five decades of conflicts. This thesis highlights some lessons learned that might be useful for countries with strategic and operational concerns similar to Malaysia, details the contributions of the SOF to Malaysia from World War II to the present, and examines their utility in supporting future Malaysian national security strategy. The research also outlines the development and a way forward for Malaysian SOF. The author explores each conflict using the UK Defense Line of Development, which consists of training, equipment, personnel, information, doctrine, organization, infrastructure, and logistics (TEPID OIL). It is equivalent to the U.S. DoDs doctrine, organization, training and education, materiel, leadership, people and facilities (DOTMLPF), for the set of generic elements that have to be brought together to generate a defense capability. Due to the importance of leadership in a conflict, the author adds Leadership to the UK DLoD. The new acronym, for the purpose of this thesis, is TEPID OIL + L. In short, this thesis proposes that fostering SOF benefits not only irregular warfare capabilities against internal threats, but also overall national security against external conventional and unconventional threats.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Defense Analysis (DA)
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.