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Kota Kinabalu: Chief of the Royal Malaysian Navy, Admiral Datuk Zulhelmy Ithnain said that the Malaysian naval assets are consistently present in disputed areas, ready to act if necessary but maintaining a non-aggressive stance.

"The Royal Malaysian Navy follows the government's directives. We maintain our presence in overlapping areas but avoid aggressive actions.

“Our primary strategy is to defuse situations through diplomacy. Military assets are only used if diplomacy fails, which we do not believe will happen," he told a media conference at the Asia Pacific Submarine Conference (APSC 2024) held at The Pacific Sutera, here, Tuesday.

He said this in response to questions regarding the Royal Malaysian Navy’s role in ensuring safety in Malaysian waters in view of the ongoing territorial disputes involving conflicting island and maritime claims in the South China Sea made by several nations including Malaysia.

On whether there are plans to expand Malaysia’s submarine fleet, Zulhelmy said that the Navy’s development and transformation plan, known as "15-5," includes increasing the submarine fleet from the current two to four.

"We aim to strengthen the Royal Malaysian Navy's fleet with more submarines in the future, but the timeline depends on the government's financial capabilities," he said.