Protectors of the Malaysian Waters

In our sea waters, we currently have 3 different special forces doing anti terrorism works and enforcing Malaysian waters. Those 3 forces are the Combat Diving Unit (UGERIN) from the Marine Police, the Special Tactics and Rescue (STAR) from the Coast Guards and PASKAL aka KD Panglima Hitam, Navy Special Forces.

From what I know UGERIN has power up to 12 nautical miles off the Coast. They were formed to handle jobs what the VAT 69 can't do in the sea as they are not deployed in Coastal or Sea areas. UGERIN are trained by American Navy Seals and they are tasked to deal with HRT works on beaches and up to 12 miles of beaches. Besides that, they do riverine patrols and do river HRT works.

The pictures above are old pictures before they changed their name from UST to UGERIN

 Coast Guard's Special Forces on the other hand do HRT works in deeper waters and they also do hard arrest onto pirates on boats. They are also tasked onto destroying pirates bases at beaches on piers, either from elimination of key targets or bombings.Besides that, they are trained to do amphibious assaults onto pirates and do hard arrest or chase into riverine areas. They are trained by all branches of Malaysian Armed Forces's special forces. During it's begining they were formed by the Malaysian government through absorbing members from PASKAU (Airforce Special Forces) and PASKAL (Navy Special Forces). It was even suggested that half of PASKAL should be absorbed into STAR, Coast Guard's Special Forces but it was too expensive as the Navy needs to train and recruit more into PASKAL if they actually did this. So they sent some but not half and no official figure was given so far. During times of war or emergency, they can be deployed by the Navy anywhere and cooperate with PASKAL or other Navy/Coast Guard units.

The pictures above are demostration by STAR units for the media. The picture above also shows them cooperating with the Navy's Special Forces, PASKAL.

The third unit is PASKAL (Pasukan Khas Laut) which is under the command of the Navy. Their main task is to enforce Malaysia's EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone). They were trained by American Navy Seals and Royal Marine Commandos. Their beret are maroon in colour to honour their close relationships with Indonesia's Kopaska (Navy Special Forces). During their early days, they were infact trained by Kopaska. Paskal were formed the government in the first place to combat naval terrorism and to combat piracy which was huge threat to Malaysia's economy. Recently, they were given the title KD Panglima Hitam (Translates loosely as Black Knights or Warriors). Such titles were given to people who have contributed a lot the country and has high martial art skills and PASKAL were famous for their martial art skills.

The pictures above shows PASKAL troopers and officers demostrating some of their weaponry. The third picture shows all different timelines PASKAL and showing their old uniforms and weapons alongside new ones.

Notice all these water/marinal infantry use American BDUs. They use these uniform to show respect to the special forces that have trained them and worked with them before, mainly from America.

Special Forces in Malaysia

After the National Service I became quite interested in Malaysia's Special Forces after meeting some ex-SF guys in camp. There was once this instructor who was an ex-PASKAL, the Malaysian equivelant of the Navy SEALs, he seemed to be strict all the time and I don't blame him to be like that. So here is a brief run through about the Special Forces in Malaysia.

As I said before, PASKAL is the equivalent of the Navy SEALs in Malaysia. Trained by the SEALs, SAS and Indonesia's Kopaska, they are quite the Donald Trump in underwater demolition. They're hardcore.



This is the VAT 69, named after the whiskey of the same name. Trained by the SAS, they are jump and dive qualified. Formed by the government to track down communist terrorist in the 70s inside the deep forest of Malaya. The picture below shows them in their new camo uniform. VAT 69 were also involved with the Al-Maunah case where they cooperated with GGK (Grup Gerak Khas or Special Actions Group, look below)



PASKAU is the airforce's elite commando unit. Their main task is to sabotage enemy airbases, rescue pilot behind enemy lines, combat search and rescue, and marking designated target for pilots. These people are the ones who blow up enemy planes before they get off the ground.



GGK or Grup Gerak Khas is the Army's Special Actions Group. These boys are trained by American Green Berets and was formed the SAS. These people come in when situations conventional army infantry could not handle. They also could be deployed through Delta-ish tactics, winning the hearts and mind of people. They normally work closely with Indonesia's Kopassus, another elite group in South East Asia.


When the Malaysian Coast Guards were formed a few years ago, there was demand for assistance for special units as certain situations couldn't be handled by conventional forces. When pirates are armed to the extend of a small Navy, conventional warfare is probably not the brightest idea. Unconventional warfare such as sabotage, demolition and espionage could be the trick of the trade here. Hence, the government formed the STAR team or the Special Tactics and Rescue for the Coast Guards. Formed from PASKAU and PASKAL troopers that were absorbed into the Coast Guards. These guys may be new but they are hard hittin' commandos, ready to take pirates and terrorist at sea.