He said all parties involved, including the defence ministry, finance ministry and the military, must know what needs to be prioritised in matters related to national defence and in caring for the welfare of military personnel.

“We cannot be talking about (defence) assets today but at the same time we want to find billions of ringgit to build houses for our members, hospitals for the military and schools for our members’ children.

“Maintenance is also an issue.

“We have several assets but don’t have the money for maintenance, so whatever approach we take to solve the issue, it must be comprehensive and revolve around the country’s stability.

“If the country is stable, it is easy for us to make plans,” he said at a media conference during his visit to Lok Kawi Camp here.

Yesterday, navy chief Mohd Reza Mohd Sany had said insufficient provisions affect the ability to maintain a high security alert level and to act against any threat.

Hishammuddin said to overcome the issue of obsolete assets, the government is currently working on procuring a second fleet of littoral mission ships equipped with the appropriate weapons.

“Our plan to resolve the littoral combat ship issue is ongoing but while waiting for this, I am working on the next littoral mission ship fleet,” he said.

The fourth and the last of the LMS ships, KD Rencong, was commissioned on Jan 28 this year and is part of the 11th LMS Squadron together with KD Keris, KD Sundang and KD Badik at Kota Kinabalu naval base.