The Defence Ministry’s purchase of six patrol vessels is being questioned for the use of foreign consultants to make the recommendation, since this could compromise national security.

Parti Kita president Zaid Ibrahim said the purchase of the second generation patrol vessels (SGPV) was a cause for concern on several levels, in particular for engaging Singapore-based companies as the consultants.

azlan Industry analysts estimate the cost of one such craft to be over 100 million euros (RM418 million).

“The new vessels’ combat and management system will be decided by some foreign consultants and not by the Royal Malaysian Navy ... The consultants are Singapore-based companies.

“Are they not  foreigners? What if they recommend a system that compromises our national security?

“What assurance do we have that these consultants are not our enemies?” asked the former de facto law minister.  

“Every time we question the government’s secrecy in the procurement of defence equipment, we are told that it’s in our national interests to be kept in the dark. Now I know why,” Zaid added.

Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was last week reported as saying that issues related to national defence assets should not be debated openly.

More questions

Zaid also questioned the rationale for the purchase itself when in the 1990s, during the purchase of the first generation of such vessels, the navy had paid an extra RM300 million to acquire the designs with the intention of building future units locally.

“Why we are not using the design that we paid so much for is something we should be thinking about.  

“And why Zahid and Boustead Naval Shipyard have decided to change our supplier to DCNS is anybody’s guess,” Zaid said on Kita’s website today.

After all, the controversial French company is riddled with scandals, and has been sued by the Taiwan government over a more than US$1 billion kickback scandal, he said.

The Kita president said the present scandal involving Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and National Feedlot Corporation was “peanuts” in comparison.

“I know many of you are excited about the cow scandal now engulfing... Shahrizat Abdul Jalil. But that’s peanuts compared to what’s cooking at the Defence Ministry.

“It’s comical and unfair for some Umno leaders to ask Shahrizat to resign when they are all in the same pot,” said Zaid. azlan