‘National security' is a lousy excuse for not checking corruption in our military purchases, Gerakan Youth told Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein today.

NONE The youth wing's secretary general Dominic Lau ( right ) said he was "baffled" how easily Hishammuddin swept aside an NGO report which raised Malaysia's rating from a "high" risk of corruption in defence spending and operations, to "very high risk."

"There is never a valid reason that could justify corruption and abuses, not even on national security grounds as the lack of integrity in government is a threat to national security as a whole," Lau said in a press statement.

Responding to a reporter's query yesterday, Hishammuddin said that he would eye the NGO report but if it called for more transparency in Malaysia's military buys, this may affect national security.

Therefore, he would make "no apologies" for his ministry's secretive procurement practices.

In retort, Lau pointed out that in fact corruption itself can be a national threat.

"The equipment procured would likely be substandard, and that will expose our soldiers to great harm," Lau said.

The study carried out by Transparency International-UK, had ranked Malaysia together with countries such as China, Afghanistan, Rwanda and even Singapore, due to their cloak and dagger nature when it came to buying weapons.

To date, there is no oversight over defence purchases, not even in the bipartisan Public Accounts Committee which oversees all other government spending not classified as official secrets, Transparency International Malaysia had noted.

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