PORT DICKSON MALAYSIA, Monday, 24 August 2015 – Peacekeeping Operations (PKOs) exercise code named ‘KERIS AMAN CAPSTONE 2015’, hosted by the Malaysian Armed Forces in cooperation with the United States Pacific Command’s (USPACOM) Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) program, ended today with a closing ceremony held in the Sebatang Karah Auditorium, Segenting Camp, Port Dickson.
The closing ceremony was officiated by the Chief of Defence Force of the Malaysian Armed Forces, General Tan Sri Dato' Sri (Dr.) Zulkifeli bin Mohd Zin as the guest of honour who also presented completion certificates to participating nations.
This exercise which began from 11 August 2015 is an annual multinational PKOs exercise which aims to develop and maintain capability, capacity and effectiveness of PKOs. This year’s exercise involves a total of 1,026 military and civilian personnel from 29 participating nations.
The exercise was conducted into two main events; the Staff Training Event (STE) and Field Training Event (FTE). The STE focuses on improving multinational readiness and coordination in a United Nations (UN) Force Headquarters and at operational level environment, whereas for the FTE is to enhance the capacity of a nation to train, plan, prepare, manage and conduct PKOs at the tactical level. The FTE also provides the platform for participants to exchange organizational tactics, techniques and procedures to reinforce or improve tactical PKOs. In addition, the FTE also acts as a pre-requirement training for troops being earmarked for deployment to UN PKOs missions.
This was the third PKOs multinational exercise attended by the RBAF in which the first involvement was held in the People's Republic of Bangladesh in 2008, code named ‘EXERCISE SHANTI DOOT-2’. The second RBAF participation was held in the Republic of Indonesia in 2009, code named ‘EXERCISE GARUDA SHIELD 09’.
Brunei Darussalam has undertaken an active and participative role in the United Nations PKOs since 1992 for the United Nation Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) and remains committed to United Nations PKOs specifically for the UNIFIL mission since 2008 and taking part in the International Monitoring Team (IMT), in Mindanao, Republic of Philippines.
RBAF’s participation in this exercise is consistent with the efforts to be flexible in a variety of security tasks and to be interoperable with regional and international security partners as stipulated in the Brunei Defence White Paper Update 2007.