QuickCheck: Does a Malaysian-born hold one of the UK Air Force's most senior posts?
By TAN YI LIANG
- TRUE OR NOT
- Monday, 15 Jul 2024
8:10 AM MYT
Indeed, it has been said that one of the top positions in the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force (RAF) has been held since April 2023 by a man who was born and raised in Malaysia.
Yes, the current Warrant Officer of the Royal Air Force – the most senior non-commissioned officer in the RAF - is Murugesvaran Subramaniam; he was born in Malaysia and educated here before leaving for the United Kingdom at the age of 19.
Explaining his departure in a Jan 2024 podcast on the RAF's official YouTube channel, Subramaniam said that it was to further his education.
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“I did my A-Levels and my results were pretty good but the best thing they could offer back in Malaysia was organic chemistry and in the UK I could have walked into one of the best universities doing medicine or law. I had a massive disagreement with my dad and left,” he said.
As for why he initially joined the British army, he said he did it because he was “broke” to put it in his own words.
“The money can only go so far, and being Commonwealth it's easy to join. So I spent some time in the Army and left the Royal Engineers, went to university and did a law degree and had a place in Lincoln's Inn to be a barrister but didn't have the money,” said Subramaniam.
He also said in the podcast that his father was himself with the British Army in then-Malaya, also serving with the Royal Engineers while his mother is from Vanuatu in Fiji.
“So I thought fair enough, I have to join the military again because it worked the first time around; I thought I'd try something different so I went to the careers office in Sheffield to join the RAF,” he added.
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"Went for a commission (as an officer) but didn't get through my commission so I joined as an enlisted back in 1998,” said Subramaniam adding that he was 30 at the time, making him the oldest in his batch.
Since then, Subramaniam spent his early career performing Air Defence duties at two bases, RAF Neatishead and Buchan.
He is also a qualified Space Operator and has 15 years’ experience in the Space Based Infrared System, Missile Warning, Space Domain Awareness and Ballistic Missile Defence, according to the RAF's official page on him and his service history.
Along with this, he was a Recognised Maritime Intelligence Operator working in a surface/sub-surface Intelligence Production Cell at the British Armed Forces joint base at Northwood as well as a liaison with cross-government organisations on national resilience.
Notably, Subramaniam was also selected to assist the Chief of Staff Capability as Deputy Staff Officer during the Integrated Review and he was appointed as the inaugural Command Warrant Officer to the United Kingdom Space Command in 2021.
Subramaniam was selected as the first RAF Warrant Officer to attend the Command Senior Enlisted Staff Course at Baltic Defence College in Estonia. He graduated with the Commandant’s Award for outstanding academics and leadership.
As for his current scope of duties, Subramaniam explained this in the podcast.
“Technically, I suppose it is engaging people to try and find out all the good things, the bad and all the challenges happening in the RAF and bring that up to the Air Executive Committee or Air Force Main Board so that they know what the challenges are and what is happening day-to-day,” he said.
“We have evolved since the original Air Force in 1918, we have to evolve with how society is,” he added
