TIMOR LESTE WANTS MALAYSIAN PEACEKEEPING TEAM TO STAY ANOTHER YEAR

KUCHING (Malaysia), April 13 (Bernama) -- The Timor Leste government has
requested that the Royal Malaysia Police's (PDRM) participation in the United
Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission in Timor Leste, which ends in 2012, be
extended for another year.

General Operations Force (PGA) deputy director DCP Salleh Mat Rasid
said the PDRM team, known as the Formed Police Unit, had performed outstandingly
in the mission, dubbed Ops UNMIT, in Timor Leste since 2006.

"Ops UNMIT involving the PDRM is supposed to end in 2012, but during my
visit to Timor Leste with the Inspector-General of Police (Musa Hassan)
last year, the Timor Leste government had asked for the services offered by PDRM
to be extended for another year."

He said this after witnessing a demonstration of public order skills by
the MAL-FPU team at Sarawak PGA headquarters here Tuesday.

Salleh said the PDRM was always prepared to deploy its team to Timor Leste
if the Malaysian government and the UN gave their nod to the request.

"This request was made verbally by the top leader of Timor Leste, we will
leave it to the government to decide, but we are always prepared," he said,
adding that the Timor Leste government had also asked the PDRM to provide
training for its police personnel for promotion.

Apart from Malaysia, the peacekeeping mission to Timor Leste also saw
participation from Portugal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The new 136-member MAL-FPU team is expected to depart for Timor Leste on May
1 and 8, together with four medical officers from the army.

This will be the ninth time the PDRM is sending its team to Timor Leste with
each team replaced every six months.

-- BERNAMA