This letter by Lt Col (Rtd) Mohd Idris Hassan in the New Straits Times, claims that the Royal Malay Regiment is the most senior Regiment in the Malaysian Army. It is common knowledge that history, in Malaysia, is always distorted to favour views of the ultras and extremists who are in power. Well the Royal Malay being the most senior Regiment in the Malaysian Army is another myth. Remember Sarawak and Sabah are always treated as back water states in Malaysia. In that respect their soldiers too are treated as such. Which has denied the Regiment of Rangers it's righful place in Malaysian history!

Compare this, the initial recruitment of 25 males for the First Experimental Malay Company on March 1, 1933. Major G. McI. S. Bruce of the Lincolnshire Regiment was the first Commanding Officer. 1933 against 1872, yet they claim they are very much older/senior. Paramilitary Sarawak Rangers against Experimental Malay Company. The nerve of the distortionists .

A small paramilitary force, Sarawak Rangers, was formed by Rajah Charles to police and defend the expanding state. This small army also manned a series of forts around the country, performed ceremonial duties and acted as the Rajahs' personal guard.

The Sarawak Rangers were a para-military force founded in 1872 by the second Rajah of Sarawak, Charles Anthony Johnson Brooke. They evolved from the fortmen which were raised to defend Kuching in 1846. The Sarawak Rangers were commanded by a former British Army Officer, Sir William Henry Rodway, and were highly skilled in jungle warfare and general policing duties, being equipped with various western rifles, cannons and native weaponry.

Aside from protecting Sarawak's borders, they were used to fight any rebels and were engaged in a number of campaigns during their history. The Sarawak Rangers were disbanded for a few years in the 1930's, only to be reformed and mobilised for the Second World War in which they attempted to defend Sarawak from Japanese invasion in 1942 at the start of the Pacific War. After the abdication of Charles Vyner Brooke in 1946, the Sarawak Rangers became a colonial unit under direct British control and saw action in both the Malayan Emergency and the Borneo Confrontation. The source :Kingdom of Sarawak.

To summarise, that the Rangers Regiment is older than the Royal Malay Regiment:

The Rangers are more than a CENTURY OLD (136 years) !!!!! Whereas the Royal Malay Regiment is only 75 years old.

1872 Sarawak Rangers

1932 Absorbed into Sarawak Constabulary

1941 Sarawak Rangers reformed as separate military unit

1942 Captured by Japanese and disbanded

1948 Iban trackers from Sarawak first employed by British in Malayan Emergency

1953 Sarawak Rangers re-formed as company from Iban trackers who had been serving with Iban Trackers

1960 Special Tracker Team

1963 Renjer Malaysia (Rangers Malaysia). Transferred from Sarawak Colony to Malaysian Army, and expanded into multi-battalion, multi-ethnic regiment

1965 The Malaysia Rangers

1971 Rejimen Renjer (The Ranger Regiment)

1992 Rejimen Renjer DiRaja (The Royal Ranger Regiment)