Locals visit biggest navy ship in Sandakan
SANDAKAN: A total of 4,743 locals visited the Royal Malaysian Navy’s Naval Area 2 (MAWILLA 2) here during the MAWILLA 2 Open Day from 8am until 3pm yesterday.
KD Mahawangsa, the biggest ship in the RMN’s fleet has become the main attraction to the visitors together with other ships under MAWILLA 2.
KD Mahawangsa is one of two ships from MultiPurpose Command Support Ships (MPCSS) class that is 103 meters long that was commissioned on May 16, 1983.
Act as an assisting ship in logistic in the RMN’s fleet, the ship was also once involved in cross border crime eradication operation in waters of Teluk Aden, Somalia, and was also involved in providing assistance to Tsunami victims in Acheh.
According to Commanding Officer of KD Mahawangsa, Captain Ivan Mario Andrew of RMN, the ship was tasked with delivering logistics to Sabah from RMN’s base in Lumut, Perak.
Before reaching Sanakan, the ship entered RMN’s base in Tanjung Gelang, Kuantan, and then to RMN’s base in Kota Kinabalu.
Members of the public went to the open day starting from 8am to have a closer look at KD Mahawangsa, and they also took the opportunity that it was a schoolholiday so they brought their children to the open day as recreational activity.
KD Mahawangsa also prepared a floating restaurant for its visitors who want to dine and there was also free karaoke service that had received positive response from the visitors.
Meanwhile, Special Forces of the Sea and Pasukan Simpanan Tentera Laut Sandakan also had an exhibition on military and career in RMN.
The boatride programme received the most response from the visitors when most of them would queue in a long line to wait for their turn to go on RMN’s combat boar around Tambatan base here.
The open day was an initiative taken by MAWILLA 2 to appreciate support given by the people of Sandakan during MAWILLA 2’s operation in Sandakan’s base, and at the same time to provide exposure to the people of Sandakan on the tasks and roles of RMN, particularly MAWILLA 2 in the aspect of maritime security.
The activity also provides a good platform for MAWILLA 2’s personnel to strengthen their relationship with the local community here.