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Kota Kinabalu: The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) reiterated the need for a simplified Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in order not to end up as a toothless tiger when pursuing suspected enemies in Malaysian waters. Navy chief Admiral Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar said this is to enable the force to take immediate action to prevent intrusion by any potential enemy.

"There is a need to shoot at boats that flee after we spot and approach them in the nation's waters including off Sabah. That is why I made the shoot-on-sight proposal to the Federal Cabinet.

But it does not mean that we will shoot at them É just fire warning shots to scare and stop enemies from intruding our waters. We are not trying to pursue them, we just want to ask those who are suspicious.

But if they speed off, then obviously they are in the wrong because they should not be afraid if they were not doing anything offensive as we are very professional in discharging our duties and responsibilities," he said.

Aziz was speaking at a press conference after launching a four-day 14th Asia Pacific Submarine Conference attended by 19 countries, here, Tuesday. He was commenting on latest developments to the proposal to shoot-on-sight that was submitted to the Government.

In July, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail rejected the proposal on the grounds that Malaysia is not a military state. A total of 61 participants, namely experts in Submarine Escape and Rescue (SMER), are attending the conference themed ' Enhancing Interoperability for Safety'.

Aziz said he submitted the proposal to better the SOP but he understood that it would take time to be looked into.

"Now we have the SOPÉwe follow it and we do not shoot on sight. But at least, it has made our jobs easier as they (concerned authority) can now approve in a very short time which we will facilitate. Otherwise it will take a longer time," he said.

On the 10-hour curfew at the East Coast of Sabah, Aziz said it has made the force's work in safeguarding Sabah waters much easier as they are more focused on monitoring movements of boats during the curfew period.

"Since the curfew in Sabah's East Coast was enforced, it has facilitated our tasks in discharging duties and responsibilities as everyone has reason to stay out of the sea beyond the three nautical miles within the curfew periodÉno need to worry.

"But if suspects speed off when we approach them, then we will consider to fire shots. Nonetheless, we will use our own discretion in handling such situation," he said.

On talks that the Scorpene submarine at Naval Base in Sepanggar is "resting", Aziz denied such rumours, saying the submarine team has used the submarines in four operations.

"It is not true about what people say about the Scorpene submarine because our submarine teams have their own roles and tasks where we have involved the country's submarines in four on-going operations in Sabah and Sarawak.

"However, I cannot elaborate or relate to you what were the operations.

But believe me as the force is operating 24 hours seven days a week to

safeguard the security of the nation's waters," he said.

To a question, Aziz said the existing submarines in the country are operating at optimum level or else the 18 participating foreign countries would not attend the conference here.

On the conference, he said Kota Kinabalu was chosen as the venue of the annual conference as it is the home of the Scorpene submarine.

"It is a privilege and a great honour for the RMN to host the annual conference as our submarine force is only five-years old since it was established in 2009.

"A lot will be shared and done in this conference which is not just in the aspect of defence but also doing research in the development of operating submarines," he said.