Defence Ministry mulls possibility of using land banks for agriculture

KUALA LUMPUR: The Defence Ministry is mulling the possibility of utilising its land bank for agriculture purposes to enhance the country's food security following recent droughts and floods.
Its Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said climate change has affected crop yield and food security has become a defence matter.
"We are looking at our idle and unutilised land and we are thinking of working with plantation companies to plant crops that will hopefully help secure our food chain," Hishammuddin told a press conference on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Roundtable (APR) by the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia (ISIS).
He said the success of the proposal is very much dependent on the reception of the agriculture industry.
Other matters brought up during the conference includes terrorism especially concerning the Islamic State (IS), maritime security and humanitarian and disaster relief efforts during natural disasters.
He also emphasised on the need to defend the nation's strategic national infrastructure including dams, electricity, and the information technology network.
Hishammuddin said Malaysia's information technology infrastructure is especially vulnerable to external attacks but said his ministry has been working on it for more than two years now.
"We at MinDef have started working on how to defend our IT infrastructure from external attacks for more than two years now, but I am not in a position to disclose any more details," he said.
On maritime security, Hishammuddin said joint patrols and joint military exercises between Asean member nations have been suggested during trilateral meetings with Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
He appealed to other Asean member nations to unite in one voice to have a stronger say about regional security, including the South China Sea dispute.
Hishammuddin said this will also help with common threats in the region such as terrorism, piracy and drugs and arms smuggling.