An Anonymous, on August 26, 2024 asked if I could "Pls write an entry or conduct some coverage regarding KD Pendekar thank you." While I mainly write about vessels that intentionally submerge my brief occasionally covers vessels that accidently submerge, like KD Pendekar.
There being a wide range of publications that have already covered KD Pendekar's demise I have selected a succinct and excellent one by Miriam Soukaina Nenni for ScandAsia(dot)com of August 26, 2024 at https://scandasia.com/swedish-built-malaysian-naval-vessel-sinks-off-johor-coast/
"Swedish-built Malaysian naval vessel sinks off Johor coast"
"Salvage operations are in progress after the KD Pendekar, a Malaysian naval vessel built in Sweden, sank off the coast of Johor on Sunday, August 25th. The Royal Malaysian Navy confirmed that all 39 crew members were safely rescued before the ship was completely submerged, with no injuries reported.
The KD Pendekar, commissioned in July 1979, was constructed in Sweden and is a fast craft measuring 43.6 meters in length. It was armed with a Bofors 57mm main gun, a 40mm secondary gun, and Exocet anti-ship missiles. The vessel sank two nautical miles southeast of Tanjung Penyusop in Kota Tinggi after reportedly hitting an unidentified underwater object, which caused severe flooding in the engine room.
The navy has announced that a special investigation board will be established to determine the cause of the incident."
Pete Comment
Luckily no deaths or injuries were recorded. The asset value of the vessel would be very low after 45 years - so that is no tragedy.
Sinkings of old or new vessels generally happen due to equipment/technical failure or human error.
Equipment might be central electrics of an old vessel failing or sonar mapping equipment of the seafloor (even recent equipment) failing.
As an aside Malaysia's Handalan-class missile boats [1] which included KD Pendekar seem much better armed (57mm and 40mm guns, had Exocet missiles) than Australia's much larger more recent Arafura-class OPVs (25mm gun, no missiles) [2]. Australia does not appear to have decided what it wants the Arafuras for.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handalan-class_missile_boat
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arafura-class_offshore_patrol_vessel