Singapore and Malaysian Armies Conclude Bilateral Military Exercise 13 Nov 2016 The Chief of Staff-General Staff of the Singapore Army, Brigadier-General (BG) Desmond Tan Kok Ming and the Deputy Chief of Army of the Malaysian Armed Forces, Lieutenant-General Dato' Seri Panglima Hj Ahmad Hasbullah bin Hj Mohd Nawawi, co-officiated the closing ceremony of Exercise Semangat Bersatu this morning. This year's exercise, the 22nd edition in the series of bilateral exercises between both armies, was conducted in Kluang, Johor from 3 to 13 November 2016. It involved around 980 personnel from both the 1st Battalion, Singapore Infantry Regiment, and the 5th Royal Malay Regiment. The exercise included professional exchanges and culminated in a combined battalion field exercise. In his closing speech, BG Tan said, "Today, the armies of Malaysia and Singapore enjoy a deep and abiding respect for each other. Through our defence relations, we find 1 greater areas of convergence between our two countries and therein forge the basis for a lasting bond… I am heartened to know that our soldiers took the opportunity to interact, to build relationships and achieve a deeper understanding of each other during the last two weeks. Through the professional exchanges and outfield exercise, our soldiers have truly demonstrated our armies' "unity in spirit", or semangat bersatu." First conducted in 1989, Exercise Semangat Bersatu serves as an important and valuable platform for professional exchanges and personnel-to-personnel interactions between the SAF and the MAF. The SAF and the MAF also interact regularly across a wide range of activities, which include bilateral exchanges and professional courses, as well as multilateral activities under the ambit of the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting and the Five Power Defence Arrangements. These regular interactions underscore the warm and long- standing defence relations between Singapore and Malaysia. 2 3 .