THE Malaysian public is very confused: why is UMNO now hostile to the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) report on the RM9 bil littoral combatant ship (LCS) project when Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has since promised to act based on the PAC’s recommendations on the scandal?
The latest development of the LCS scandal saw the current and former PAC chairmen trading barbs, with Johor UMNO deputy chief and former PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed accusing his successor Wong Kah Woh of abusing his position to benefit Pakatan Harapan (Pakatan), and Wong responding that the PAC is a bipartisan body and all of its reports were based on consensus.
Is Nur Jazlan trying to provoke the nine Government members [three each from UMNO and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), two from PAS and one from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB)] of the 14-member PAC to repudiate the PAC report on the LCS scandal?
Is it all because of the forthcoming 15th General Election (GE15), which UMNO leaders want to be held immediately or at least by this year?
I will withhold my comment and disappointment with Nur Jazlan over his failure as then PAC chairman to expose the RM50 bil 1MDB scandal in the 13th Malaysian Parliament, which was bullied by the then prime minister to “cover up” what had been described by a US attorney-general as “kleptocracy at its worst”.
But I will always wonder why a chartered accountant could be bamboozled into defending the 1MDB scandal.
Nur Jazlan should remember what Hishammuddin said when the PAC report on the LCS scandal was presented to Parliament on Aug 4, 2022.
Hishammuddin had said his ministry and all related stakeholders would take into account the recommendations made by the PAC, as listed in its report on the LCS scandal.
He had also said: “We, at the Defence Ministry (Mindef), have given full cooperation and remained transparent while attending proceedings and PAC’s investigations process.”
“Not a single ship completed”
The PAC report pointed out that not a single ship had been completed, although Putrajaya had spent RM6 bil over the project given to Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) via direct negotiations.
The PAC also noted that the Royal Malaysian Navy’s views were ignored by Mindef and Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS).
Hishammuddin, meanwhile, has since said that the Cabinet had, in April, agreed to the LCS recovery plan, which allows for a six-month mobilisation period. This, in turn, allows for discussions with original equipment manufacturers and vendors, and will subsequently finalise the LCS procurement plan, as needed by the navy.
The Cabinet also agreed to form a special governance committee chaired by the secretary-generals of the Treasury, Finance Ministry and Mindef to oversee the mobilisation process and report its findings to the Cabinet.
I agree with Hishammuddin that moving forward, the most important thing now is to ensure the LCS project can go on smoothly. This is because the LCS assets are highly needed for the security of the country’s waters, in line with the navy’s 15 to 5 Fleet Transformation Programme and for the interest of the navy.
This is also why I agree with DAP deputy secretary-general Liew Chin Tong that Hishammuddin should reveal the fifth supplementary contract signed on May 31, 2022, by Mindef with BNS on the LCS project – which cropped up during a recent BNS filing to the Companies Commission.
Will any sum from the remaining RM3.048 bil in the six LCS contracts be released to BNS?
“Two pending questions”
I must remind Hishammuddin he has yet to answer two questions that I had put to him: Firstly, why did Mindef reduce from two LCS to one LCS which must be completed and delivered by the contractor with no additional Government funds before the Government moved on with the LCS project?
When Hishammuddin appeared before the PAC on Jan 25, 2022, he spoke about “corporate restructuring” of the RM9 bil LCS contract and that the contractor, BNS, will have to deliver two LCS without any new cost to the Government.
Second, has BNS agreed to complete the first littoral combatant ship (LCS 1) without involving new Government allocations?
UMNO information chief Shahril Hamdan made a very interesting video statement on his Facebook the day before (Aug 19), where he listed corruption cases involving several Government agencies or Government-linked commissions (GLCs) to prove that corrupt people in high places are not always politicians.
He said, thus, it is a “wrong assumption that misappropriation, mismanagement and the likes must involve an instruction from ‘sharks’ who must be a minister or prime minister”.
Two more pertinent questions, in my view, are who were the “sharks” in the LCS scandal and do they include then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak and then defence minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi? – Aug 20, 2022
Lim Kit Siang is the Iskandar Puteri MP, DAP supremo and a veteran lawmaker.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main photo credit: Bernama
