After training his guns on the questionable award and pricing of the contract to build six offshore patrol vessels to Boustead Naval Shipyard, Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua shifted to what he claims is another overly expensive arms purchase by the government.

This time he zeroed in on the RM7.55 billion contract to supply and maintain 257 units of armoured personnel carriers (APCs) awarded to Deftech Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of DRB-Hicom, in February this year.

“The award was made on Feb 23 to Deftech to design, develop, manufacture, commission, supply and deliver the vehicles over a seven-year period at an average of RM29.4 million a unit,” Pua said in a statement to the media today.

The RM29.4 million per unit price, he contended, was way higher than the cost of similar APCs reportedly sold to Malaysia at RM7.1 million a unit by manufacturer FNSS Defence Systems Inc.

NONE “The defence minister must explain the glaring gap between the cost of the APCs and the price paid by the government, especially since the award to Deftech was made without open tender, similar to the RM6 billion award to Boustead Naval Shipyard,” Pua ( left ) said.

He said he had brought up the matter earlier, when the letter of intent was issued to Deftech, but it seemed that the government went ahead with the project despite the objections.

To illustrate why he believes the price tag for Malaysia’s latest military hardware purchase is way overboard, he quoted the Portugese army’s purchase of the Pandur II APC, which is of a similar model to what Malaysia is purchasing, at only RM4.4 million a unit, and the US army’s best-in-class APCs, the Light Armoured Vehicles or LAV, at RM9.9 million a piece.

Pua also quoted an online defence news magazine, Defense Update , which stated in an article that the “cost of the new vehicle seems excessively high”.

‘Making a mockery of the call for reform’

“The trend towards mega-millitary acquisitions without accompanying transparency and accountability, as demanded by the PM’s own government transformation programme, makes a mockery of the call for reform,” he said.

But the effect, he warned, would be more far-reaching and may eventually effect Malaysia’s fiscal health.

“The escalating defence spending is also a direct affront to the government’s attempt to rein in the ballooning budget deficit, which has resulted in various attempts to curb spending by cutting subsidies for the man-in-the-street,” Pua added.