COMMENT As the Global Day against Military Spending (GDAMS, April 14) approaches, it is wise for Malaysian taxpayers to scrutinise the next big budget military procurement of the government’s.

Apart from the multi-role combat aircraft and other multi-million ringgit weapons of war the Defence Ministry plans to acquire, Malaysia’s defence minister and current acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein is now talking about “a need to strengthen the nation’s military assets”, following the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.

According to the official state news agency, Hishammuddin said that our radar surveillance should be reviewed to equip the Malaysian military.

The public is given a (false) impression that the Malaysian military’s radar capability is inadequate and that is presumably the reason the military failed to trace MH370 as it turned back and traversed the northern part of the peninsula on that fateful night on March 8.

Our current radars should have traced MH370

In the early 1990s, then PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad signed a RM5 billion arms deal memorandum of understanding (MOU) with then British PM Margaret Thatcher. This may have again slipped his memory but let me remind him from my speech during the parliamentary debate on the Supplementary Supply Bill 1992:

“It has been alleged that the Marconi radar sold to us under the MOU - costing RM1.2 billion - is four times more expensive than the compatible US system which costs only RM300 million.

"This Marcello radar (by GEC Marconi) was to be integrated with the RMAF system, but it doesn’t work! It seems the RMAF prefers the US Raytheon system, a proven system. Furthermore, it seems the British themselves do not want this system! The RAF has given it up for the US Boeing system…” (Kua Kia Soong, Reforming Malaysia , Oriengroup 1993:193)

Marconi was also given the contract for the Nautis II combat management system for the KD Lekiu frigate as well as the command, control and communication systems for the four RMN guided missile corvettes which Malaysia purchased from Italy in 1998.

In 1994, Alenia-Marconi (A-M) was also awarded the contract to supply five primary and seven secondary radars for the Civil Aviation Departments in Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Johor, Subang, Langkawi, Labuan and Sepang. A-M also upgraded Malaysia’s network of civil aviation radars in 1999, “thus ensuring comprehensive air traffic control”.

Then in 2010, the Defence Ministry announced in the Dewan Negara that it had bought two Czech-made Vera-E passive surveillance radars for RM7.2 million in 2007.

Then Deputy Defence Minister Abdul Latiff Ahmad said the purchase of the Vera-E, a highly advanced sensor that can detect aircraft, ships and ground vehicles from signals emitted by their radar, communications and other onboard electronic systems, was “to protect the country's air space.” ( Malay Mail , March 17, 2010)

'Technological integration at its best' in 2013

More recently on Feb 20, 2013, ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS) announced “full system acceptance has been finalised with the Royal Malaysian Air Force for the Malaysian Air Defence Ground Environment Sector Operations Centre III (Madge) programme.

ThalesRaytheonSystems provided the Malaysian Ministry of Defence an enhanced national command and control system.”

“The C2 system we’ve executed in Malaysia represents technological integration at its best,” said Kim Kerry, CEO of US Operations for ThalesRaytheonSystems.

"“We worked with our Malaysian customers to integrate their legacy system and have augmented it with proven technologies, such as the Sentry® command and control system and the Ground Master 400 (GM 400) radar.

"The result is a system that reliably and effectively meets their requirements.” The Madge system operates in realtime and features multi-radar tracking and a flexible human-machine interface.

"The GM 400 radar will provide additional long-range surveillance capabilities for the Royal Malaysian Air Force.

So, is 2013 recent enough for a reasonably advanced radar system for Malaysia?

According to Defence Review Asia, May 26, 2010:

“As a whole, the RMAF currently possesses total radar coverage save for some gaps at certain height levels, details of which are classified. The Sistem Pertahanan Udara Nasional (Spun, or National Air Defence System) is said to be currently between stage one and two of its three stage development goals, with stage one being full coverage of Malaysian airspace, stage two being the full integration and networking of all armed forces radar coverage along with the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation.

The third and final stage would be the addition of satellite coverage, AEW&C aircraft and surface-to-air missile systems into the air defence network.”

RMAF personnel sleeping on the job?

With the vast budget that has been given to procure radar facilities through the years, there is no excuse for failing to trace MH 370. From the statement by the RMAF chief the day following MH370’s disappearance, RMAF's radar did trace MH370’s turn back.

Otherwise, on what evidence was RMAF chief general Rodzali Daud's statement that the military radars had detected a possible turn back of flight MH370 based?

But Malaysian military operators took no action even when their radar detected an unidentified aircraft travelling across the country!

Now when we bear in mind that in 2011 Malaysia claimed that there were 2,058 incidents of airspace violations by Singapore’s air force since 2008, how could they miss one MH370 on March 8?

Apart from the millions spent on our radar systems, MH370’s erratic route should have activated our Sukhois and F18s to be scrambled to prove their worth. Unfortunately, they were idle when they were most needed.

The only action they have seen so far has been against a “rag tag army” of Suluks in Sabah last year. Will there ever be a need for Malaysian taxpayers to foot the bill for the more advanced and multi-million Typhoon or Rafael or Gripen fighter jets?

Not so fast, minister!

By trying to blame our failure to trace MH370 on inadequate radar facilities, Hishammuddin, who is also the defence minister of Malaysia, has tried to justify the need for more military procurements:

“And now, (Prime Minister) Najib Razak has got to find me the money to change our radar system because the whole world now knows our defence capabilities, in terms of radar.”

Let a parliamentary select committee (PSC) led by an opposition member decide whether the defence minister’s claim is valid. First, the PSC must find out:

How did our fabulously expensive radar capabilities procured through the years fail on that fateful night on 8 March 2014?

Was all that expensive radar equipment wasted on the RMAF personnel who were sleeping on the job?

Or was it a case of yet another expensive military equipment that was not maintained properly?

KUA KIA SOONG is Suaram adviser.