By Sim YH
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, NOV 15 – The third flight of the MALBATT 850-12 Contingent for the peacekeeping mission of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) consisting of 207 members of the MALBATT 850-12 including nine members of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) has survived took off using a Batik Air Airbus A330-300, yesterday.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence, here, present at the departure ceremony was Assistant Chief of Staff J3 of the Joint Headquarters of the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM), His Grace Major General Dato’ Tong Veng Leong RMAF.
Also present were Brunei Darussalam’s Defense Adviser to Malaysia, Lieutenant Colonel Rudie Asmawi bin Haji Abidin and senior ATM officers and family members of the departing contingent.
The ceremony began with a salute from the contingent, followed by the ATM song and a speech from the guest of honor and ended with the chant of ‘Gempur Wira’ followed by the recitation of a prayer.
The last flight for the MALBATT 850-12 contingent is scheduled to depart from Malaysia to Lebanon on November 18.
