KUALA LUMPUR: Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) Eastern Fleet deputy commander First Admiral Dr Najhan Md Said has been elected as vice chairman of the Sub-Committee on Undersea Feature Names (SCUFN) for the 2024-2028 term.
The Naval Headquarters’ Strategic Communications Branch in a statement today said the election was done at the 36th SCUFN meeting in Wollongong, Australia, yesterday through a voting process involving 12 permanent members of the organisation.
“Najhan’s election as vice chairman is the highest honour ever received by the RMN and the country on the international stage, especially in the field of hydrography and oceanography,“ according to the statement.
Dr Yasuhiko Ohara from Japan was elected as chairman.
The permanent members of the organisation are Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Brazil, Australia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, South Korea, Mexico, the United States and New Zealand.
SCUFN is a committee under the auspices of the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC).
It is responsible for reviewing, approving and standardising geographic terms and ocean floor features submitted by member countries to be officially gazetted in the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) database.
“This database is the official undersea feature names database for the publication of world marine charts and atlases and any production of marine geological studies must refer to the official name gazetted in the database,“ read the statement. – Bernama