The 18th ASEAN Air Chiefs Conference Focusing on “Optimising Capability and Cooperation against New Challenges”

16 September 2021 – The ASEAN Air Chief Conference (AACC) is held annually with the participation of 10 countries. The Royal Thai Air Force has the privilege to host this year’s 18th ASEAN Air Chiefs Conference (ACCC) which was held through video tele-conferencing, due to COVID-19 pandemic predicament.

The video tele-conference involved the Chief of Air Force, General Tan Sri Ackbal bin Hj Abdul Samad RMAF and his nine counterparts from ASEAN countries, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. For this year, the 18th AACC is focusing on “Optimizing Capabilities and Cooperation Against New Challenges”, in which the ASEAN member states are facing challenges that include COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters and cyber attack.

In meeting his counterparts through virtual platform, Gen Tan Sri Ackbal RMAF has addressed a significant message in his discussion that focused on the COVID-19 pandemic. The RMAF proposed a few lessons learnt on how to cohesively embrace the new challenges. Striking a good balance between saving lives and livelihood is the key to remain responsive to ASEAN common goals by applying the concept of travel bubble and the SOP in terms of COVID-19 operational requirements to support ASEAN initiatives.  It won’t be long before the current phase of pandemic will gradually turns to endemic phase and we will be living in an environment where the virus exists within the community.  

Furthermore, another lesson learnt is to relook and readjust all future activities with contactless engagement by the method of “meet in the air”. Lastly, he concluded that achieving herd immunity is an important measure to flatten the curve of the pandemic in the long run to restore our livelihood and enable us to optimise capability and cooperation in this region.

ASEAN AIR CHIEFS CONFERENCE KE-18 MEMFOKUSKAN KEPADA “MENGOPTIMAKAN KEUPAYAAN DAN KERJASAMA DALAM MENANGANI CABARAN BAHARU”

16 September 2021- ASEAN Air Chief Conference (AACC) dilaksanakan setiap tahun disertai 10 negara. Pada tahun ini, Tentera Udara Diraja Thailand sebagai tuan rumah bagi penganjuran ASEAN Air Chiefs Conference (AACC) Ke-18. Namun, atas cabaran pandemik Covid-19, persidangan AACC Ke-18 telah diadakan secara persidangan video.

Persidangan video melibatkan Panglima Tentera Udara, Jen Tan Sri Ackbal bin Hj Abdul Samad TUDM dilaksanakan bersama Panglima Tentera Udara negara-negara ASEAN iaitu dari Brunei, Indonesia, Kemboja, Laos, Myanmar, Filipina, Singapura, Thailand dan Vietnam. AACC ke-18 kali ini memfokuskan kepada “Optimizing Capability and Cooperation Against New Challenges”, iaitu mendepani cabaran pandemik, bencana alam dan ancaman siber.

Bertemu rakan sejawat di platform maya, Jen Tan Sri Ackbal TUDM turut menyampaikan mesej utama di dalam perbincangannya yang memfokuskan kepada pandemik Covid-19.  TUDM mengutarakan cadangan melaksanakan tindakan secara bersepadu dalam mendepani cabaran-cabaran baharu. Menurut beliau, ke arah mencapai keseimbangan “saving lives vs livelihood” adalah kunci untuk ASEAN kekal responsif terhadap matlamat bersama ASEAN dengan mengaplikasikan konsep “travel bubble” dan Prosedur Operasi Standard Covid-19 terhadap keperluan-keperluan operasi bagi menyokong inisiatif-inisiatif ASEAN. Persekitaran fasa pandemik yang dihadapi akan menuju ke fasa endemik dan menempuh persekitaran di mana virus berada di dalam komuniti.

Selanjutnya menurut beliau, adalah untuk melihat semula dan menyesuaikan semua aktiviti masa hadapan tanpa kehadiran secara fizikal dengan kaedah secara maya atau “meet in the air”.

Akhir perbualannya, beliau menekankan keperluan bagi mencapai kelompok imuniti (herd imunity). Ia sebagai kaedah penting dalam melandaikan lekuk pandemik di dalam jangka masa panjang bagi memulihkan dan kembali menjalani kehidupan seperti dahulu dan membolehkan rakan-rakan sejawat mengoptimumkan kemampuan dan kerjasama di rantau ini.