Rear Admiral Dato' Hanafiah bin Hassan

Joining the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) on 16 Jan 1986, Rear Admiral Dato' Hanafiah bin Hassan was commissioned exactly two years later as a Naval Officer in the Executive Branch with the rank of Acting Sub Lieutenant. His specialisation in hydrography began after his induction into the Naval Hydrographic Service in 1992, upon completion of the Basic Hydrographic Course at the Japan Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department. 

In his pursuit of lifelong learning, Rear Admiral Dato' Hanafiah has attended courses locally and abroad. Through an exchange programme with the Royal New Zealand Navy, Rear Admiral Dato' Hanafiah gained considerable hydrographic surveying experience onboard HMNZS MONOWAI from 1995 to 1997. He graduated with a distinction in The Long Hydrographic Course from National Institute in Hydrography, India in 1997. He attended the Malaysian Command and Staff Course at The Malaysian Armed Forces Staff College in 2003 and obtained a Diploma in Strategic and Defence Studies. He graduated from the Malaysian Armed Forces Defence College in 2010 with a Master of Arts in Defence Studies. And in 2016, Rear Admiral Dato' Hanafiah graduated from The National Defence University, Beijing China.

Continuing his rise through RMN leadership, he was appointed his current role with the National Hydrographic Centre (NHC) in 2018. Since then, he often represents Malaysia for meetings or seminars organised by the International Hydrographic Organisation and East Asia Hydrographic Commission. He is also a member of international and local committees such as the Technical Committee Working Group Joint Hydrographic Survey Malaysia and Singapore, Technical Committee Delimitation Malaysia and Indonesia, Working Committee for Marine Electronic Highway, The Hydrographic Surveyors Competency Evaluation Committee, Executive Committee of the Port Hydrographic Information Management.

Rear Admiral Dato' Hanafiah's illustrious career has also seen him take on other key appointments, such as Navigation Officer and Executive Officer of KD KELEWANG (Patrol Craft), Welfare Officer at Naval Region 1 Headquarters (HQ), Navigation Officer of KD MUTIARA (Survey ship), Staff Officer 3 Hydrography at RMN HQ, Hydrography and Oceanography Officer of KD PERANTAU (Survey ship), and Commanding Officer of KD MUTIARA, among others. 

Notably, Rear Admiral Dato' Hanafiah was the Chairman of Malaysia's Joint Task Force in search of Malaysia Airlines MH370 at the Joint Agency Coordination Centre, Canberra, Australia in 2014. He was responsible for advising on and determining the needs of the assets deployed. In addition, he was an intermediary between Malaysia and Australia's High Level Technical Task Force.