This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on December 7, 2018 - December 13, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: The Parliamentary select committee on defence and internal affairs will investigate the deployment of Malaysian troops and assets to Yemen under Ops Yemen II between 2015 and 2018, said Deputy Defence Minister Liew Chin Tong (pic).

Liew announced this in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday after revealing two letters issued by the ministry of defence (Mindef) in May 2015 which stated, among others, that the National Security Council (NSC) did not issue any military directive for Ops Yemen II.

“The committee will conduct an investigation on Ops Yemen II to determine whether the deployment of Malaysian troops and assets (at a cost of RM14 million) underwent the right steps and the right system,” Liew said.

He said that in one of the letters, Mindef referred to the proposed deployment of Malaysian troops and assets to participate in Operation Restoring Hope, which is a phase in Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in the Yemeni civil war in 2015.

Liew’s disclosure goes against the statement by former defence minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein on Wednesday that Ops Yemen II was a mission aimed at safeguarding the security of Malaysians still residing in the gulf nation.

According to Liew, Mindef also recommended in the letter that the proposed deployment should be discussed in Parliament, or at least brought up at the cabinet meeting for further deliberation “considering the monetary implication”.

The letter also included the input by the foreign affairs ministry which stated it is not proper for Malaysia to participate in military or security missions in the Middle East unless sanctioned by the UN or the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Wisma Putra also stated that there is no necessity to evacuate the 189 remaining Malaysians in Yemen which would have followed the first evacuation mission (Ops Yemen I) earlier that same year as the citizens “expressed clearly that they do not wish to leave Yemen”.