Saturday, November 14, 2009

EXTRAVAGANCE AND ILL CONCEIVE DECISION IS THE NAME OF THE GAME

Residents of Kuala Lumpur should congratulate former Housing and Local Government Ministry, Secretary General and present City Mayor Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ismail for his bold and courage’s decision to terminate a three year contact for the supply of flowers to City Hall worth RM 32.4 million, which he says is “a total waste of funds to throw money on such extravagances, especially during current lean times”.

Datuk Ahmad Fuad assumed the post of City Mayor from incumbent Datuk Abd. Hakim Borhan in December 2008, after a less than satisfactory performance by the latter, brought about by numerous complaints from city dwellers, and following the victory by the opposition in the Federal Territory parliamentary constituencies during the March 8, 2008 General Elections.

Sometime ago, a business friend of mine remarked that City Hall is likened to a gold mine; a remark that has some similarity with Mindef. But to strike a business deal is not that easy too. It requires political patronage and knowing some ‘big shot’ in the City Hall’s administration and management. The contract to supply flowers to City Hall as mentioned above, to little known Bright Spark Sdn Bhd is one obvious example. I suppose there will be many more ‘unscrupulous contracts’ being awarded at exorbitant rates by the previous City Hall administration, if one really care to find out.

Talking about extravagances and questionable decisions, I am told recently that Army has proceeded to purchase another MLRS regiment to augment the present two regiments. They have also proceeded to purchase the 120mm Rifled Mortars supposedly to be mounted onto the Adnan AFV.

The question ask is why need a third MLRS regiment of ‘antiquated’ weapon system? Why not consider augmenting the artillery with more medium field guns, or with Self Propelled guns, where there has been so much of development on the ammunition itself. The whole world knows that the MLRS is a dumb weapon system, but our army leaders chose to think otherwise.

And secondly, why opt for a Rifled Mortar and not a Smooth Bore Mortar? I know for one that there was an earlier study being made on the preferred choice of the 120mm mortars, and the recommendation was for a Smooth Bore mortar; not a Rifled Mortar. Is army playing ignorant of not knowing that even the US Army has done away with the Rifled Mortars? And having to think of mounting the mortar on the Adnan AFV is another serious blunder in the making.

Or are the purchases made to enrich someone, without due regard that the weapons will be made obsolescence in a few years from now? Please do not make a similar mistake when army decided to purchase the Colt M4 Carbine, only to know now that the weapon will be done away with by the US Army in 2012.


CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION

8 comments:

EAGLE said...

Dato' as for the army to make another blunder in the procurement is normal especially so when some one is about to retire and everything must be ASAP, as this is a new military strategy known as "Pre-retirement strategy of survival" ready to strike or in the Air Force pre-emptive strike la..konon nya.
Who will stop the army? The PAT is clueless and an Arse$#!@, the KSU is a team Player with SUB Perolehan as his belaci and The Minister!!! so far is not impressive and a typical politician who will play wayang kulit!!! so what else can we say as our defense posture is simply hopeless!!!
The Air Force is no different, wanted to buy a new helicopter with inflated price and even the generals conspire in tarnishing the image of the Nuri helicopter just to push their agenda!!! The sukhoi is yet to meet the operational capability!!! and too many story is yet to surface of how stupid the planning of its requirement under the upgraded Chief that sits on the PAT chair now...wow what a KPI!!!
The Navy!!! submarine as the new force multiplier!!! your guess is as good as others out there, just wait and see!!!
So put it simply, "Extravagance and ill conceive decision" is part of Dasar Pertahanan Negara and it can only be found in the head of the politician and the PAT may be. Have you seen one Dato'? or it will remain elusive or an illusion in the MAF. So!!! beli lah apa sahaja and that is why in the MAF "macam macam ada"!!! It will be a never ending story as the fish rots from its head!!!!!!!!!.

Capt's Longhouse said...

,,,Geee !! while some people have swimming pools, many others are just struggling to keep their heads above water. The few cry tears of joy while many lament in sorrow or even starve.
,,,"Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches as to conceive how other's can be in want".
,,, The income gap in our country is indeed widening, yet many are oblivious of it. Unfortunately ruthless ambitions and moral decay is also becoming widespread. In fact amidst economic abundance in our beloved country, many of us still are hungry, not just in physical sense but more so in spirituality.
,,,This lack of spirituality shows in the present expenditures on the uncalled for arms race. Why we humans are wiser and more intelligent than animals, yet still use guns and bombs to settle disputes.
..Martin Luther bemoaned this, "War is the greatest plaque that can afflict humanity; it destroys religion, it destroys states, it destroys families".
,,,Why can't we just prick on our conscience for the millions of needy and suffering rakyat with such funds rather spent on worthless arms expenditure for killings.
,,,It is high time MORALITY and RELIGION are embedded in our economic and political policies.
,,,or are we conned into the arm race by our enemies or are we to fight against the enemy within.

my take,,,Its the 'musuh dalam selimut yang jadi punca ini' !!.

Salam.

FMZam said...

Will the corrupt generals learn? No they will never learn it because the corrupt never gets punished so they get corrupted absolutely with every change of new leadership; the leader keeps changing, the ship remains in the rotting till it sinks. Worst still when Defence Minister is made of the same corrupt fibre optics with the generals, he just plugs and plays well into the game.

Mael Polin may have lost his bidding for the PATship but a corrupt mind like him has many more tricks in his pocket as long as he is breathing, an amphibian like him will breathe the air on land and under water.

So pity as Eagle said it, a general has nothing more better to think but think only for his "pre-retirement strategy of survival", and if I may add, I say so wasting time having a general who thinks about it even long before retirement. That's why we can never have good military when all the generals do is thinking of ruining this country.

Why can't Zahid Hamidi sees the question mark on Steyr rifle, why is Najib's Steyr project being done with a replacement for M4 carbine, is Steyr a failure that we need to change it to M4? The Thais, the Philipines, the Indonesians and the Singaporeans are still using the good old Armalite M16 while the Indochinese are still comfortable with their AK 47 Kalashnikov. And here we are changing three times from M16 to Steyr then M4 I don't know what enemy we are fighting other than the corrupt military generals and civilians in our own Mindef.

Have our military nothing better to do other than producing filthy rich retired generals more and more than ever?

loreng said...

Dear Dato,

The French 120mm Rifle Mortar which the Army recently purchased, despite the recommendation of the Jawatankuasa Operasi Keupayaan Tentera Darat (JKKOTD) not to consider it, is more accurate than the smooth bore 120mm mortar.

But to-date no Army has purchased the French 120mm Rifle Mortar except the French and Malaysian Army.The reason, the mortar and the ammunition are too expensive compared to the smooth bore.This is because no other factories except the OEM in France is producing the rifle mortar and the ammunition.So the French OEM is able to dictate the price in the absence of other competitors.

I was told there was a study made in the 90s by a Technical Team headed by an artillery General (a Col then) on the smooth bore vs rifle bore mortar.His team made a presentation to the JKKOTD on its finding which was not favourable to the French 120mm Rifle Bore mortar.The Chief of Army then, was not pleased and tried to reverse the Team's finding but to no avail. Apparently, this artillery General being a Gunner stuck to his gun. I don't blame him being a Gunner he will never abandon his gun to the dismay of the Chief concerned.So it was a great surprise that the Army decided to ignore the Teams's finding (which was endorsed by the JKKOTD then)and proceeded to purchase the French 120mm Rifle Mortar a few years later when the incorruptible artillery General had left the service.

I was told the group that actively promoted the French 120 mm Rifle Mortar are close friends of the present Chief of Army!

Mej. A R Ramachandran (Retired) said...

Well done loreng! You seem to know the inside version. Next to India/ China/N Korea (in this region of course) we have the largest rocket organisation. Relative to military troop strength, not justified. You do the math.Yes, we have royally screwed ourselves with rifled mortars. M4 is a joke and the beauty of it all is that the people who made these decisions are still around and the Generals who stood by their professional views were discarded and the apple polishers survive. How do they all go to sleep at night believing that all is well with the defence of the nation?

Mohd Arshad Raji said...

Dear All,

Thanks for the comments that had given me a better insight into the unscrupulous and dubious dealings of our army leadership. I was in the army then when the the study was on the mortars, and I know too the recommendations made. Like magic, the recommendation is now changed.....who did the magic? Your guess is as good as mine.
These are the people that called themselves professionals, who would rather sacrifice the lives of the soldiers,for their own personal greed. My answer to them is ...my foot!

captazhar said...

So it has to come from France again? I wonder who was the middle man who picked up the professional fees this time.

Unknown said...

I agree totally with captazhar, the French are having a field day here. Of course before that it was the Brits, securing such deals as the P4 system, Hawks, the frigates, the useless VSHORAD misiles; why? Tanyalah TS Arumugam tu siapa punya macai..Nasib baiklah dengan takdir tuhan 2 orang eksekutif BAe telah ditahan oleh FBI di lapangan terbang Dulles AS atas tuduhan mengunakan kaedah rasuah dalam penjualan persenjataan kepada negara dunia ketiga seperti Malaysia. Kalau tidak, upacara tanda tangan pembelian 2 lagi frigate telah berlangsung..Selepas insiden tersebut, BAe segera membatalkan kesemua 800 'exclusive agency agreement' yang mereka telah metrai dengan pihak kedua seluruh dunia... Sekarang, bilamana British terpaksa mengalah kerana akur dengan had komisyen 3-4%oleh Kongres AS, Peranchis pula bermarajalelalah. Setahu saya, pikhak EU pun mengenakan had komisyen yang sama ke atas semua penjualan ke luar sekutu sekarang, macam mana EADS dapat mengelaknya. Mungkin kita perlu tanya dengan Razak Baginda atau Subhan Jasmon macam mana Pranchis main silap mata .... Tapi takkan mereka nak cakap pada kita kot...
To me the bottom line is how can we overcome this unending rot? The logical question to ask ourselves is actually 'can we really stifle human greed'? Hardly! As a case in point, we can use the Chinese's approach where corrupt officials are executed by firing squad.Did it stop corruption there? Hardly... So where do we begin? Maybe we should shoot the MACC.. But then again what is the point? The way they go about their business, we would not be far wrong to mistake them for dead horses...