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A
container ship has joined the navy as an auxiliary vessel on its
anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden.
MISC Bhd, in collaboration with the Royal Malaysian Navy and the
National Security Council converted the MV Bunga Mas Lima to
escort and protect its ships sailing through the pirate-infested
gulf off the coast of Somalia.
This follows last year's hijacking of two MISC ships there.
In a statement yesterday, MISC said the conversion was carried out
by its heavy engineering arm Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering
Sdn Bhd here.
The Bunga Mas Lima is the first Malaysian merchant ship to be
converted into an auxiliary vessel for the navy.
A ceremony to commemorate the successful conversion of the ship
was held here yesterday, attended by Deputy Defence Minister Datuk
Dr Abdul Latif Ahmad, navy chief Admiral Datuk Seri Abdul Aziz
Jaafar and MISC president and chief executive officer Amir Hamzah
Azizan.
Since last year's hijackings, RMN had launched Op Fajar, a rescue,
escort and protection mission, with the aim of ensuring the safe
passage of all MISC vessels in the Gulf of Aden.
The navy has deployed five ships in support of that mission.
But with Bunga Mas Lima, one of the five ships currently stationed
in the Gulf of Aden, will return to Malaysia this month.
The RMN auxiliary vessel will be manned by MISC personnel, who had
completed a training programme with RMN. The crew, now taking on
the role of navy reservists, will be responsible for the
navigation and maintenance of the vessel.
Regular officers and navy men will also be on board the vessel to
carry out security-related operations.
Under international law, an auxiliary ship is a ship other than a
warship, which is owned or under the control of the military. It
is operated by the government and thus, the ship is accorded
sovereign immunity. | 
