It started off humbly with a small troop of just 25 young men on March 1, 1933.

Today, the Malaysian army can be rightly proud of its ability as it is recognised by any other world class defence forces.

Its chief Gen Zulkiple Kassim said the roles of the Malaysian army in safeguarding the country's sovereignty and as the first line of defence were now getting more noticeable and recognised by world leaders when often invited to perform international missions.

"The army is still relatively young if (we were) to compare with other countries. However, we've gone through various processes that helped us mature since World War II.

"...And because of that, the army had received recognition including becoming a security member under the United Nations since 1960," he said in an exclusive interview with Bernama recently, in conjunction with the army's 83rd anniversary tomorrow.

Zulkiple said in order to remain relevant and effective, the army now always seek to improve itself via the latest tactical knowledge and the use of cutting edge defence technology in any kind of situation.

"Our existing assets are world class and capable of defending the country," he said.

Zulkiple said despite the slowdown in global economy, the army had optimized its expenditure for the purchase of assets for defence.

Sharing on current challenges, he said the leadership of the army was now concerned over a handful number of members who might be influenced by the ideology of Islamic State militant groups.

The army chief said there were signs that the militant group had targeted to recruit military personnel to handle weapons due to their background.

"We want the military personnel to stay out of social media as IS is using this medium to recruit members. If there are members who got influenced, the risk will be very high. One thing for sure, we don't want army members being influenced (by IS ideology) and spread it around within the organisation," he said.

Zulkiple said in order to prevent that from happening, the army was now collaborating with the Armed Forces Religious Corp (Kagat) to monitor the military personnel, as well as to explain and expose the tricks used by the militant group when recruiting members.

"We have to make sure that the ideology won't spread in the organisation and information programmes should be implemented at all times," he said.

The theme for Army Day 2017 is "Army Is One Because It Is United".

- Bernama