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Further Reading

Malaysia Ministry of Defence

The Ministry of Defence is led by the Defence Minister and assisted by the Deputy Minister. The Ministry of Defence organization contains two main services: civilian and Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF). The ministry is responsible towards the implementation of National Defence Policy and resources provided to the armed forces to defend the country.

After Malaysia achieved its independence on 31 August 1957, the Ministry of Defence has been officially operated in a building under the name of Ministry of Defence which is located in Brockman Road (now Dato' Onn St), Kuala Lumpur. The office of the first Defence Minister which was the late Tun Haji Abdul Razak bin Datuk Hussein who had served from 31 August 1957 until 22 September 1970 was also located here.

Few years later, the first Ministry of Defence building was built by the Federal Government at Jalan Padang Tembak, Kuala Lumpur to place the commander offices and Malaysian Armed Forces senior officers of all the three services. The building was constructed with the cost of RM 122,000.00 which was officiated by Defence Minister, Tun Hj Abdul Razak bin Datuk Hussein on 18 March 1960.

In order to accommodate the increasing needs with the expansion of the armed forces towards the control of national security responsibility, a complex which consist of six blocks building as high as four-storey each was built in front of the Personnel Services Division office. The RM 2 Million complex was opened by the Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra on 6 April 1967. Following of the British Government decision to withdraw their armies from this region after 1970, Malaysian Government has taken several steps, Ministry of Defence was required to reorganize Malaysian Armed Forces' need of its expansion purposes.

Realizing this, the government has decided to build one new building for Ministry of Defence to accommodate all its agencies. Thus, on 10 March 1982, the foundations of the building had been launched by the Deputy Defence Minister, Dato' Abang Abu Bakar bin Datu Bandar Abang Haji Mustapha.

The new building of Ministry of Defence which is located at Jalan Padang Tembak, Kuala Lumpur, was built with the price of RM 144 million. The construction started in early 1982 and completed in the middle year 1985. The building as high as 20 storeys which is known as 'Defence building' provide office compartments and meeting rooms. Its surroundings which is known as Defence Building Complex also provide some of the facilities such as the tiered parking, auditorium, Surau, parade square, guard station, tower, computer room, 'helipad', cafetaria and others.

On 17 September 2008Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak swapped ministry portfolios. Abdullah became the new Defence Minister while Najib took the Finance Minister post. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's portfolio exchange from finance minister to defence minister made history. Abdullah, who was previously defence minister for two years since 1986, said he would focus on projects to build homes for soldiers and military officers, which would be extended nationwide. Abdullah said he would be taking over the Defence portfolio and would complete tasks that he had started such as reform of the law and the judiciary and also agencies like the Anti-Corruption Agency. The decision to pass the finance portfolio to Najib was part of the transition of power which was planned to take place by 2010. Abdullah indicated that the transition of power could happen earlier than 2010 depending on the situation.

In October 2008, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi announced that he would step down as UMNO party president, and by extension as Prime Minister, in March 2009. He endorsed a transition of power to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.