Considering that the South China Sea divides Malaysia into two halves and that its neighbors—most notably the People’s Republic of China—have not only claimed part or all of those waters but also increased their naval and coast guard presence there, one could have expected the Malaysian government to have devoted more resources to its navy. But it has not. Instead, the Malaysian parliament cut its navy’s budget, in real terms, for four out of the last five years. Not surprisingly, doing more with less has worn down the navy’s ships, whose average age now exceeds 30 years.
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