September 3rd 2009
Malaysia’s First Submarine Arrives In Pulau Indah
Warning to all anglers and fisherman at Port Klang. If you happen to see giant eyes moving underwater at Port Klang sea,….don’t worry, it’s not monster, it’s only a submarine…lol
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PORT KLANG, Sept 3 (Bernama) — It was a historic moment for the nation when the Royal Malaysian Navy’s (RMN) first submarine, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR), arrived at KD Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, the naval base in Pulau Indah, here, Thursday.
The Scorpene submarine, with 32 officers and crew members on board led by commanding officer Zulhelmey Ithnain, reached the jetty at 9.20am.
As the surfacing submarine, which were pulled by two tugboats, approached the jetty, some of its crew members were seen waving at the waiting crowd.
Present to witness the submarine’s arrival were Yang Di Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, RMN’s captain-in-chief Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, and Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Also present to welcome its arrival were the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) chief General Tan Sri Azizan Ariffin, RMN chief Admiral Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Musa Hassan, foreign military officials and family members of the KD TAR crew.
Tuanku Mizan, Sultan Sharafuddin, Najib, Muhyiddin, Ahmad Zahid, Raja Muda of Selangor Tengku Amir Shah, MAF chief, RMN chief and the IGP were then taken into the nation’s first submarine for a visit.
After the visit, Tuanku Mizan launched the commemorative stamps and first day covers in conjunction with the submarine’s arrival in the country.
The stamps and first day covers were issued by Pos Malaysia Bhd in collaboration with the RMN.
The KD TAR commemorative stamps are sold at 30 sen and 50 sen each, and a complete set of the stamps and first day covers at RM33.10 at all post offices.
KD TAR sailed from Toulon, France on July 11 and took 54 days to reach Port Klang, making stops at Jeddah, Djibouti and Cochin on the 6,000 journey, which included 32 days of submersion and 10 days of surfacing.
It is one of two Scorpene submarines acquired by the Malaysian government to strengthen the RMN.
Source : Bernama