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Jet engine thefts must have involved some top guns

I refer to the Malaysiakini report Stolen jet engines: 'A case of leadership by example' .

It is now not one engine but two engines as so far reported. A F-5E Tiger II Fighter jet engine and a RF-5 Tigereye Reconnaissance Jet engine costing some RM50 million each. This has been going on since time immemorial.

Once, during Dr Mahathir Mohamad's time in the eighties, containers of cash ‘disappeared’ from Bank Negara. Like some have pointed out correctly, jet engines are no small item for small-time

corporals and ground crews in RMAF to handle.

It is definitely not a heist by some robbers at large. These type of corrupt and criminal acts must be done by some top-ranking insiders. Since it involves RM100 million, Malaysians should be wondering why the military police, police or MACC are not taking any action.

This time, it involves an amount thousands of times more than what Teoh Beng Hock's state assembly person was handling legally. Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi - the defence minister - is trying to give explanation but is there all there is to it?

What about the then defence minister, Najib Abdul Razak? No wonder he quickly staged the removal of former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. And the Malaysian Armed Forces Chief of Staff, General Azizan Ariffin makes a nice statement about all this being - according to his words - ‘the tip of the iceberg’.

What he is hinting is that these massive thefts have been going on for a long time. More will be brought to light. And all this while, the government had been awarding the titles ‘Tan Sri’ and ‘Datuk’ and the ‘Pingat Gagah Berani’ to these thieves who are also being paid huge salaries, bonuses and perks (and dressed in uniforms paid by us Malaysians!).

Najib (the former defence minister), Ahmad Zahid and Azizan should be more responsible, transparent and pro-active by resigning if they feel they are responsible, whether directly or indirectly.

The least they can do is to be transparent and pro-active by initiating an criminal, audit or MACC inquiry into the inventory procedures and regulations of the movement of military assets and then charging the culprits.

Common, if Teoh Beng Hock paid for his life while trying to help Malaysia as a witness, are we Malaysians going to just watch uniformed public servants who are paid from Malaysian taxes going scot-free for theft of of millions of ringgit of vital military assets that were supposed to be used for the defence of Malaysia?

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