PETALING JAYA, 6 Mar: Former Chief of Army Staff, General (Rtd) Tan Sri Datuk Seri Md Hashim Hussein today announced his readiness to return kindness and ideas on the national security defence system with PKR and Pakatan Rakyat.
While accompanied by PKR Leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the announcement was made in line with the steps taken by a number of former top officials of the Malaysian Armed Forces, including Lieutenant General (Rtd) Datuk Abdul Ghafir Abdul Hamid.
According to him, this is the right time seeing that previously he was contacted by various parties to get confirmation regarding his participation in Pakatan Rakyat.
Recollecting his experience of having served for over 40 years as a member of the country’s defence, he agrees and admits that what has been described by General (Rtd) Datuk Abduk Ghafir is true.
“The voice of instinct in me is agitated and turbulent. When I was Chief of the Army, my deputy was Datuk Ghafir.
“He mentioned that when he was posted in Namibia on equipment, clothing and ambulance. The first officer shared with me that what was was told by Datuk Ghafir is true. Why would we question it?
“We had gone up north and stopped in Penang. There there were two big team camps. What saddens me as a retired army personnel is that the building near the fence was deplorable.
“Whoever attacked Datuk Ghafir, I have seen it myself.
“If I can share, actually these military camps look nice from the outside, in MasyaAllah in terms of boarding, toilets and furniture,” he said in a press conference which was also attended by Johor PKR Chief, Datuk Seri Chua Jui Meng an Sungai Petani MP, Datuk Johari Abdul.
In his length of service, Tan Sri Md Hashim has served as the Commanding Officer of 11 RAMD, Commandant LATEDA and he was also appointed as first Commander to head the Malaysian Battalion (MALBAT) in the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) mission in Bosnia Herzegovina.
On 13 August 1994, he was appointed as the Commander of the first 10th Paratrooper Brigade which was the first component of the Malaysian Rapid Deployment Force (PAC) and then took over as the Chief of Army from 1 January 1999 till 31 December 2002.
He was also the first officer to be honoured at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff Collage, Port Leavenworth Hall Of Fame.
In addition to giving lectures on the military in several countries, he was also appointed as the High Commissioner of Malaysia to Pakistan after he retired from service starting from 2003 till 2006.
Tan Sri Md Hashim is also that Chairman of the National Authority, Chemical Weapons Convention in the Ministry of Foreign Affair from 2006 till 2010.