Local culture major challenge faced by border security teams

 

Local culture is one of the major enforcement challenges faced by security teams manning the country’s borders, said Malaysian Armed Forces Assistant Chief of Staff (Operations and Training) Noorul Azril Ariffin.

Sharing his experience as a panellist at the National Border Security Seminar 2023 in Cyberjaya today, Noorul Azril said this was quite evident when he was based at the Malaysia-Thai border in Kelantan, where traditionally, locals from both sides of the border share family ties.

“So, they will come up with excuses such as fetching their children from religious classes when they try to cross the Golok river, or visiting relatives, which makes it difficult to curb cross-border smuggling activities.

“We also are faced with locals who are desperate enough to use marble slingshots on operations personnel, to the extent we had to order them (personnel) to wear vests and helmets for their own safety,” he said.

Security officers also found it tough to get the cooperation of the locals in the anti-smuggling efforts as they were looked at as ‘outsiders’, Noorul Azril said.

“This could be due to personnel being changed over time. To them, we are outsiders, so even when they are aware of criminal activities, including smuggling, they prefer to maintain silence,” he said.

- Bernama