User:Husin249

Mohd Raih Ismail

Major General Dato’ Raih, ret. (General Raih) born in Klang, Selangor in 1950, was a graduate of the Royal Military College, Malaysia. He was commissioned into the Royal Malay Regiment in 1970. In addition to his basic academic and military qualifications, he has also earned two MSc degrees, in Human Resource Development from Leicester University, UK and in Defense and Strategic Studies from Quaid-Azam University, Pakistan. He is also a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College, Armed Forces Defense College and the National Defense College, Pakistan.

During his military service career, General Raih has served in a variety of command and staff positions both in national and international environments. His command assignments include Commanding Officer 2 Royal Malay Regiment, Commander 2 Infantry Brigade and General Officer Commanding 2 Infantry Division (as GOC 2 Div he commanded over 15,000 troops in the states of Perak, Penang, Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu). He has commanded troops in counter insurgency operations against the militant elements of the Communist Party of Malaya and the North Kalimantan Communist Party in the 70s. He was the Malaysian Deputy Task Force Commander in the Coalition Forces Operation United Shield during the final withdrawal phase of UNOSOM II from Somalia in February 1995 where he has served in a special Coalition Force Command under the command of Lieutenant General Anthony Zinni USMC (now retired General), who was later the US special envoy for the initial Israeli – Palestinian peace process. General Raih also commanded a Battle Group in Bosnia Herzegovina in 1995 and 1996 under both UN and NATO Commands where he had the opportunity of working directly under command of the UNPROFOR Commander the presently Lieutenant General Sir Rupert Smith (retired) and NATO MND South West Commander presently General Sir Michael Jackson (retired), formerly the Chief of General Staff –≤UK. As the GOC 2 Div in 2004, General Raih Co-Chaired the Army Working Group Sub-Committee for military cooperation under the auspices of the Malaysia – Thailand Regional as well as General Border Committees.

General Raih has also held several major staff appointments, as a Military Attaché in the Philippines, a Military Assistant/Advisor to the Malaysian Chief of Defense Force, Staff Officer Grade 1 (Training), Head of the Army Doctrine Development and Inspector General Army HQ. As Staff Officer Grade 1 (Training) in 1993 and 1994, General Raih was also Chairman of the Exercise Planning Group of the Five Power Defense Arrangement (FPDA) Exercise Planning Committee with membership from Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Singapore and Malaysia. During the period of 1993, he has also led discussions with the Turkish and Pakistani military in the provision of special training for the Malaysian Armed Forces. On the subject of Peacekeeping Operations, he has participated and presented papers at local and international seminars in Asia and Europe from 1996 to 2000. He has also participated in the ASEM seminar on Anti – Terrorism in China in 2003 and the Coalition Multilateral Planners Conference III on the Global War on Terrorism in Romania in May 2005. Prior to his retirement, General Raih heads the Defense Planning Division at the MAF HQ, the Ministry of Defense, responsible for strategic operations planning, force structure planning and capability development of the Malaysian Armed Forces. In the same appointment, he was also Co-Chairman of the Malaysia – US Bilateral Training & Consultative Group Meeting held annually either in Malaysia or the US.

In recognition of his services, he has been bestowed with several national, UN and NATO awards, some namely a Dato’ship from Malaysia, two UN medals, a NATO Medal and letters of commendations from supreme commanders of UN and coalition forces commands and also from the former President Fidel V. Ramos of the Philippines.

General Raih is married to Datin Rahana and has three children, the eldest son a biotech scientist in the UK, the middle daughter a software engineer and the youngest son a business entrepreneur.