Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi has deflected claims by a former senior army officer that equipment and facilities provided for the Malaysian military are below par, saying instead that it was the retired general himself who set the “standards”.

The minister was referring to allegations by former army deputy chief Lt-Gen (Rtd) Abdul Ghafir Abdul Hamid who, two weeks ago, lambasted the supposed poor standards of equipment and hardware purchased by the ministry for the Armed Forces.

military tentera askar soldier malaysia 260307 wataniah When queried today, Zahid asked what exactly was the “standard” that Abdul Ghafir was referring to.

“What is his standard? Ask him back. What is his standard?

“At the time, he was deputy army chief, I was his leader. He created the standard,” Zahid told a press conference after launching Kerjaya Sukses, the official portal, for retired soldiers.

On Jan 23, Abdul Ghafir had claimed that assets and facilities purchased were not up to the high budget accorded by the government for defence and described armed forces camps in the country as akin to “ Third World facilities ”.

He also claimed, among others, that Malaysian forces overseas are often mocked by other international troops, that the ambulance taken by their peacekeepers to Namibia "always broke down" and they were forced to use their towels as blankets.

Yearly RM1,000 aid?

Meanwhile, Zahid said BN would consider making the RM1,000 monetary aid to retired soldiers without pension a yearly contribution, should it be given the mandate in the coming general election.

Even so, he said it was up to BN chairperson Najib Abdul Razak to grant the request by former army personnel.

NONE “In this matter, I think it will depends on the manifesto being worked on by the BN chairperson for the coming general election.

“However, if this is the request by them (retired soldiers), it is hoped they will first prove it so, as it will be hard for the government to bear RM224 million a year, as this is a very big amount.

“Even so, we would be grateful should the government decide to consider retired soldiers that do not get a pension,” he said.

When presenting Budget 2013, Najib had announced that the government will contribute RM1,000 to 224,000 retired soldiers, as a token of appreciation for the services rendered by former soldiers that had retired early before serving more than 21 years.

The RM224 million allocation is to be shared by the government and Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT).