Measuring the intangible military combat readiness in the Malaysian Armed Forces

Militaries throughout the world believe that military force as coercive armaments will eventually be the ultimate measure of power, as military capabilities enable countries to respond to internal and external challenges. Malaysia's military forces, as well as other security agencies, lack a model or framework for combat readiness and an assessment instrument for assessing individual and collective team preparedness prior to deployment for any operations, including international peacekeeping operations and humanitarian disaster relief operations within the country. Currently, security agencies review their combat assessment piecemeal and in silos, which frequently results in discrepancies and compatibility issues, especially when they are required to operate cohesively during a combat operation that includes both domestic and foreign duties. A systematic assessment approach for all security forces must be devised to address such concerns and obstacles, particularly when they are required to collaborate with other forces on operations. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research will examine the factors influencing the current assessment of combat readiness for the majority of security forces prior to performing combat duties, with the goal of eventually proposing a systematic model and framework for combat readiness assessment that can be used by all security forces in Malaysia, particularly when collaborating in combined and joint operations. The purpose of this research is to address the current assessment gap in security forces by proposing a systematic model and developing an assessment instrument for determining the combat readiness of all Malaysian security forces, including the Malaysian Army, the Royal Malaysian Air Force, the Royal Malaysian Navy, the Royal Malaysian Police, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, and other relevant security forces.