Special Task And Rescue

The  S pecial T ask A nd R escue (Pasukan Tindakan Khas dan Penyelamat Maritim) or STAR is an elite counter-terrorism and special forces unit of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, established to protect the local maritime assets of Malaysia. The team started off their operation with just one Senior Officer and one Non-commissioned Officer. The mission and responsibility of this unit includes commencement of rescue mission in difficult underwater situation, rescue of accident victims at sea and searching ships tactically in the event this is required. Additionally, the STAR team also plays the role of first responder on piracy, terrorism and robbery threats at sea before arrival of the reinforcement from Royal Malaysian Police and Royal Malaysian Navy Special Forces.

History
STAR team history begins when MMEA divided its scope of operation in the country into 5 regions including 18 maritime districts and bases. It is indirectly putting the role of MMEA as an agency responsible for any incident occurring at Malaysian coastal waters. These include accidents at sea, damaged ships, marine pollution and others. Certainly in many circumstances, a special force presence is required to deal with the challenges facing MMEA while on duty at Malaysian waters.

Recognizing this requirement, STAR has been created to help carrying out Malaysian Maritime special tasks. Its tasks include hard rescue at sea, diving to retrieve government valuable goods or secret documents that may be lost with the ship, special ship boarding and maritime counter-terrorism special duties. As many as 2 senior officers and 23 members of Malaysian Maritime have been sent to undergo special commando courses under the supervision of Royal Malaysian Air Force PASKAU at Special Warfare Training Centre, RMAF Regiment Camp at Bukit Jugra, together with 56 RMAF members.

On 2 July 2009, the first batch of fresh commando units graduated from Basic Commando Selection alongside the PASKAU. They were given an American Army Combat Uniforms digital dot camouflage, blue PASKAU berets and also Malaysian Army Zebra Woodland Camouflage uniform.

Training
As many as 25 trainees successfully completed MMEA Commando Orientation Basic Course in April 2008 being held at Pulau Indah. This batch of trainees comprises one senior commission officer, one uncommission officer, three senior non commission officers and non commission officers.

Successful students selected to attend this Commando Orientation Basic Course are those successfully selected during a STAR team member selection test which was held on 19 December to 24 December 2007. According to Deputy Director Chief of Malaysian Maritime (Operations), Vice Admiral Dato' Noor Aziz Bin Yunan, the team needs an additional 200 members of STAR team by the end of the year.

The objective of the training held is to expose and prepare candidates before they will be sent to attend real basic commando course which will be held jointly with all the other three branches of Malaysian Armed Forces. During the orientation course implementation, each student would have to pass four level of training namely Level 1 (camp), Level 2 (forest), Level 3 (swamp) Level 4 (sea). During these four levels, each student will be exposed and trained on physical construction technique, small arms operation, map reading, compass reading and protector, unarmed combat, swimming, long-distance running, navigation, survival effort, first aid and shooting practice. They were also taught first aid, becoming war prisoner, amphibious attack after finishing off the course with an endurance test.

On 14 November 2009, a 25 members of STAR team which had completed their Commando Basic Training Course has undergone Close Quarters Combat and Malaysian Maritime Special Ship Boarding and Rescue with 11 Royal Malaysian Navy PASKAL Alpha Team members on 1 November to 14 November 2009 onboard KD Panglima Hitam, RMN Naval Base, Lumut Perak. This training was conducted to ensure that members are able to perform the duties and responsibilities entrusted to them successfully.

The training also involves Maritime ship and boat assets such as KM Gagah vessels and two Kilat (Lightning) boat classes from Lumut Maritime District (DM3).

Capabilities

 * Maritime interdiction and law enforcement
 * Anti-terrorism/Force Protection
 * CBRN-E Detection
 * Vertical Insertion (commonly referred to as Fast Roping)
 * Search and Rescue (limited)
 * Port Protection/Anti-sabotage
 * Underwater Port Security
 * Canine Handling Teams (Explosive detection)
 * Tactical Boat Operations
 * Non Permissive Boarding capability
 * Counter Terrorism
 * Hook and Climb
 * Non Compliant Boarding Operations

Support Items

 * PRO-TEC helmet
 * PASGT helmet
 * Flashbang
 * Night Vision Goggles
 * Army Combat Uniform

Personnel
Each STAR team has 25 active duty personnel.