A SEEMINGLY military freak has questioned the basis of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in defending the government’s decision to obtain 28 helicopters for the country’s security forces via a leasing arrangement with Italian defence firm Leonardo under a 15-year contract valued at RM16.8 bil (or average RM1.07 bil/year).
The netizen VR (@VR_NSR500) then pointed to a recent maintenance contract for the Royal Malaysian Air Forces’ (TUDM) EC725 choppers which cost RM378 mil for five years for 12 helicopters.
Recall that Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd had on Aug15 unveiled that its 51%-owned joint venture BHIC AeroServices Sdn Bhd has secured a RM378 mil contract to provide in-service support and performance for TUDM’s EC725 helicopters.
“Extrapolate for 28 helicopters for a year it is just RM176.4 mil,” he expressed surprise at the exorbitant Defence Ministry feal with Leonardo on the X platform. “There is no such thing as spending billions per year on maintenance!”
This is certainly bullshit from Anwar.
You don’t overspend RM16.8 Billion on 28 helicopters for 15 years because you don’t need to spend on maintenance.
— VR (@VR_NSR500) November 29, 2024
VR was commenting on PMX response to Perikatan Nasional (PN) Tanah Merah MP Datuk Seri Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz who on Nov 28 questioned in the Dewan Rakyat why the said contract was not awarded through an open international tender or executed through a government-to-government arrangement.
Anwar who is also the Finance Minister further justified to Ikmal who is also the PN Shadow Defence Minister that the leasing arrangement helped alleviate the burden of maintenance which had become a significant issue with billions spent annually on upkeep, materials and natural wear and tear.
“Therefore, I agreed to continue with the leasing decision that was previously made but we are expanding its scope,” he said, adding that countries such as Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines also practised the leasing model.
But VR begged to differ, contending that spending billions on maintenance for helicopters “is clearly b*llsh*t”.
“What about buying the helicopters outright (then)? The BOMBA (Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia) also recently bought four AW189 (variant of AW149 for civil use) for almost RM530 mil,” he asserted. ‘Extrapolate for 28 it is RM3.7 bil.”
On this note, VR contended that perhaps it makes better sense to “buy outright” and self-maintain the helicopters.
“So buy outright + maintenance for 15 year is RM3.7 bil + (0.176 x 15) = RM6.34 bil,” he projected. “So how come ‘no need to pay maintenance’ lease costs RM10 bil more than just buy and pay maintenance as normal?”
Added VR: “He talk about reformasi, accountability, transparency, open tenders, no corruption etc. And here we’re, wasting RM16.8 bil on something that at most be RM6.5 bil normally. Where is the transparency and accountability?”
To a question posed by a commenter if the RM16.8 mil sum took into account the maintenance, repair and overhaul of the helicopters in addition to the collaboration between Leonardo and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) to support Malaysia’s preparation as a regional hub, VR has this to say:
“Poland established even a production line, R&D (research & development) for armed versions, overhauls, upgrades, training till end of service life (not just 15 years) for just RM8.03 bil for 32 units of AW149! That is just half of the Malaysian lease cost. Clearly leasing is BS (b*llsh*t).” – Nov 1, 2024
