NEW ARMY LEADERSHIP NAMED

I receive several SMS's from friends yesterday informing me of the Army's leadership change that is scheduled to take effect in May next month, thus ending speculations of who will lead the Army following the retirement of the incumbent Chief of Army (COA).

Since there is yet an official announcement from Mindef, and assuming that the SMS is true, I suppose many in Army will receive the new line-up with new hope of a better Army. I have all along anticipated that the Deputy COA, Lt Jen Datuk Zulkifli Zain should be the right candidate to assume the post of COA. The new Deputy COA that is to take over from Lt Jen Datuk Zulkifli Zain is said to be Lt Jen Datuk Zulkifli Zainal Abidin who is currently the VC of UPNM, and this to me is an admirable choice.

The combination of the two, I think is good for Army and let's all hope that the two can position the army to greater heights, and that they be a shinning example of what army military leadership is all about.

I believe the new COA will definitely come up with his Order of the Day, upon assuming his new post. Here I wish to suggest that the opening sentence to his Order of the Day is “The Army does not, and never has, condoned illegal, immoral or dishonest acts by its officers”.

I have taken the above statement verbatim from the introduction page of a pamphlet issued to all West Point graduates, and I think this statement is highly relevant to all army officers, given the adverse reports that we hear of the army officers today. I am not implying that all officers are bad. Certainly, there are many good ones too, but it is the few bad apples that has marred the good name of the service, and this is unacceptable in a highly disciplined organisation like the Army and the entire Armed Forces.

I wish both the officers the best of luck in all their future undertakings.


CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION