DAP's Lim Kit Siang has said that he will be raising the issue concerning the purchase of the Eurocopter helicopter for the RMAF in the up coming session of parliament. The official announcement for the said purchase was made by Pak Lah, immediately upon having taken over the Defence Ministry from Najib.
It was rumored that his (Pak Lah) son Kamarudin had a hand in the deal, and if that is proven to be true, Lim Kit Siang therefore has every reason to expose this selfish plot that smacks of nepotism and cronyism to all Malaysians. Pak Lah himself who had recently claimed that the reason why SAPP Yong Teck Lee had been critical of the BN was because he (Pak Lah) could not satisfy Yong's 'personal greed'.
Now, in the case of the Eurocopter, and assuming that son Kamarudin was indeed a party to the deal,can we not claim that Pak Lah is himself guilty of wanting to satisfy his very own personal greed, as well as the greed of his family member? The guilt will remain with Pak Lah, if he opts to remain silent, and with that, the accompanying stigma of him being corrupt.
The Ministry of Defence had over the years, spend millions on large equipment purchases which are brought in from overseas. Undoubtedly, there will be someone who will make it rich; some merely by acting as intermediary or agents, and others who are in the position of authority to approve.
Granting of profits and commissions, I am told are quite normal in any business transaction. However, what is unusual is the manner in which contracts are being awarded. This so-called 'direct negotiation' is so commonly practiced by a number of ministries, that one begins to suspect that there is the element of corrupt practices involved. Price murk-ups to such exorbitant levels has also been observed, merely to cater for the lust of some crocked and damningly corrupt government officials. The practice of awarding contracts by 'direct negotiation' is still rampant in some ministries, even at this very point of time.
By the way things are going, I do not believe that we can totally eradicate corruption, in our midst. And of late, I am particularly concern to see the increase in the number of senior government officials being caught for corruption and what is worse, they are all Malays of the Muslim faith. I am ashame....utterly ashame for my race and religion.
CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION
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11 comments:
"others who are in the position of authority to approve"
To the best of my knowledge, in any ministry, the position of authority to approve rests on two individuals...the minister and KSU. If thing goes wrong, just make them accountable and blame should not be shift to others.
The Nuri Replacement Project was done as an International Open Tender and not as a Direct Negotiation Basis.
I believe 4 international bidders took part ie Russia- Mi17, Italy Augusta Westland - AW101, France Eurocopter - EC 725 (Cougar) and USA Sikosky - H92.
It was quoted in one of the local dailies, Eurocopter has a local reperesentative in Malaysia by the name of Salleh Majid.Not sure whether the gentleman was the former CEO of Security Commission.
It seems of late defence procurements have become the play ground of big players, the like of Tan Sri Arumugam, Dato Adib Adam, Tan Sri Salleh Sulong,Tan Sri Syed Mokthar, Sydney Franklin (Englishman) etc.
By the way things are going, I do not believe that we can totally eradicate corruption.And of late, I am particularly concern to see the increase in the number of senior government officials being caught for corruption and what is worse, they are all Malays and Islam.
Bottom line, it is no longer about 'halal' and 'haram' and life after death BUT rather life after retirement. The pension and gratuity are inadequate to maintain a lavish lifestyle.
I think some of the reasons for adopting "the direct negotiation" method by MINDEF would be: only one manufacturer producing the weapon system required and in the interest of national security.
The downside of the system is that it could be abused by unreasonable mark-ups by the seller.However, the KSU would be in a position to negotiate the price down to its true level as he has the means and resources to check on the true international price of the particular weapon system required.
Unlike other countries, the US Government (USG) exercises strict control on defence sales by US companies.Defence sales are done through the FMS method (Foreign Military Sales) which is Government-to-Government basis.The US company is only allowed a minute mark-up by the USG for its profits.
Any US company found to flout its laws will be subjected to its Foreign Practice Corrupt Act (FPCA) with severe jail sentences to company's officials concerned and in extreme cases the company would be deregistered all together.
Therefore, in order to eliminate corruption in defence procurements, the Government should insist on Government-to-Government purchases rather than dealing with the individual manufacturer concerned.
The Government should study the USG FMS modality for its defence purchases with other countries in order to eliminate corruption.
Dato,
Talking about big contract which of late became a scandalous conduct of a few in power seem to be the name of the game.If the allegation holds sum truth it seem that they are taking turn to rob the nation wealth in broad day light.
What shall we do,well it is up to the "raayat" to check on this rot through political or legal means.If we choose a rotten egg to be our daily staple food or on our breakfast plate then dont blame others for getting stomach ache. It is our own fault (Malaysian) as what being uttered by our neighbouring country leaders as of late.We are the masters of our own destiny.
We happily choose and retain rotten leaders to make decision and facilitate them to rob our country richness, which now became a practise and habitual amongst them without being checked in public.The hue and cry from the general public falls on deaf ears to this bunch of rogue managing the country.Therefore it is justified to place BPR under the jurisdiction of Parliament.
It is up to the raayat to consider all this rogue to be "court martialled " and account for all the ill gotten money which they accumulate when they were in power.
I think Parliament should move a special law which allows its Parliamentary Committe jointly with BPR to conduct a universal inquiry to investigate all Malaysian irrespective of their position and colours to account for all their wealth accumulated while in public office, including all government servants.Unjustified wealth and money shall be frozen aka "Mareva injunction" and "Anton Pillar order". Every individual must and shall account for every single sen they accumulated exceeding their mean, failing which it will be own up by the state and became "wang yang disatukan" under Malaysian Treasury.
In a simpler form all ill gotten wealth and money accumulated by unscrupulous or corrupted mean shall belongs and remain the ownership with the people of Malaysia.
Dear Eli, Maurice & Walimuar,
Thanks for all the comments. I think my Crusade Against Corruption is taking shape. I am gathering all the points, and should I be given the opportunity, I will spill it all. We all are sincere in wanting to get of this damn corruption, and for people like us, speaking out aloud is our only recourse.
Dear Maurice,
The mechanism for FMS has existed for years ago for procurement of US equipments and spares. Nevertheless, MINDEF top officials both civilian and military alike are not supportive of this option except for a few professionals. Simply, FMS does not 'lubricate' the system as it shuts the window of 'opportunity'. The management theory of cost effectiveness simply will not work in Malaysia unless we are serious to eradicate the evil of corrupt practices.
Of late, of all the countries selling military equipment to Malaysia, France has been the most successful one.Even the crafty Britishs have been sidelined as a mere observer after their last big sales of the Jernas Air Defence Missiles System to Malaysia in the late 90's.
In the last 10 years France had sold the Scorphene submarines, A400M Airbus, EC725 Cougar helicopters, avionics systems for the Sukhoi multi-role aircraft, command and control systems for the PT91 tanks, Fernec helicopters, telecommunication equipment/systems, night vision equipment etc.
This a remarkable achievement indeed considering France is a latecomer doing defence business in Malaysia.
Our University Business Schools should make a case study of the French success and impart the knowledge to our businessmen who wants to go global.
On the individual level, the most successful salesman selling military equipment to MINDEF would be Sydney Franklin, an Enhglishman from the UK.
I was told over the last 10 years he has managed to sell a few mega-defence projects (worth RM billions) on a direct negotiation basis.
Being a foreigner we have to admire his business acumen and skills doing business in our own backyards, beating flat our own local businessmen.
I was in Mindef for quite sometimes, I didnt know it was a "pasar malam" for selling weapons (eventually besi buruk being traded worth millions of tax payers money).
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