In 1966, he served on secondment in the 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment and was posted to Sarawak, Malaysia, during Indonesia's "Konfrontasi" against Malaysia.
With the start of the Konfrontasi in 1962, the Indonesian Government (led by Sukarno) openly opposed the formation of Malaysia.
Konfrontasi was a policy of confrontation by Indonesia from 1963 to 1966, in opposition to the formation of Malaysia from the Federation of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore.
President Sukarno of Indonesia declared a state of Konfrontasi (Confrontation) against Malaysia and initiated military and other actions against the new nation, including the bombing of MacDonald House in March 1965 by Indonesian commandos which killed three people.
Following that, he served as a platoon commander in the 1st Battalion Singapore Infantry Regiment (1 SIR) and was involved in two major operations: being deployed to Sebatik Island, Borneo between 1963 and 1964 during the Konfrontasi; patrolling the streets during the 1964 race riots in Singapore.