There is certainly a need to upgrade our armed forces for peace-keeping missions under the United Nations banner, as suggested by Farian Choes letter, Tanks for peace-keeping duties?

However, the writer is rather ignorant of the technical nature of the Polish tanks under discussion here.

The 64 Polish tanks the government has undertaken to buy (but no contract has been signed yet) are heavy-duty, highly mobile and highly lethal combat tanks, designed for large-scale and offensive conventional warfare. No peace-keeping forces in the world need this category of tanks.

What peace-keeping forces need is lighter and less lethal (meaning less firepower) armour vehicles for policing actions and self-defence as in Somali a few years ago.

We should do more homework on the technical aspects of the weaponry, as well as the nature of peace-keeping, before offering our opinion. Otherwise, we would soon have ignoramuses suggesting that the 64 Polish tanks can be used to fight terrorists and robbers who rob banks in Kepong.