Following the end of Indonesian confrontation in 1966, Tunku Abdul Rahman and his colleagues decided to Malaysianise the top posts in the navy and air force. They offered these posts to two senior Malaysian army generals, who declined for two main reasons. First they felt that they were not professionally qualified and second because they did not want to jeopardise their own careers in the army. Tunku and his colleagues then decided that they would select two officers, one from the navy and one from the air force, and appoint them chiefs of their respective services. They were fully aware of Rear Admiral Datuk K. Thanabalasingam's age —he was 31 years old and a bachelor- but decided to appoint him and take the risk. Under Thanabalasingam and with Tunku Abdul Rahman's foresight and will, they were responsible for initiating the gradual transformation of the navy from a coastal navy (brown water force) to an sea-going navy (green water navy).