Thanks to Najib, Malaysia is even losing out to Egypt which has two Gowind LCS in operation although Egypt was later than Malaysia in contracting for the Gowind LCS

Thanks to Najib Razak, the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia who caused national infamy for Malaysia to be regarded worldwide as a kleptocracy, Malaysia is even losing out to Egypt which has two Gowind LCS in operation although Egypt was later than Malaysia in deciding to buy the Gowind LCS.

Malaysia’s decision to buy the six Gowind LCS was made as far back as 2011 although the contract was delayed and signed only in 2014, but Egypt, which signed a one billion Euro contract to buy four Gowind LCS in 2014, has now two Gowind LCS in operation.

Malaysia launched its first Gowind LCS, Maharaja Lela, in Lumut on 24th August 2017 but the vessel is not yet completed and is expected to be delivered only in 2024, 2025 or 2026 – creating history for the longest time for a ship to be launched and to be commissioned.

Can Najib explain why the first Egyptian Gowind LCS took 29 months to be constructed, while the first Malaysian Cowind LCS needs to take some 10 years to be completed?

All the six Gowind LCS have been given names – Maharaja Lela for the first LCS, Syarif Masahor for the second LCS, Raja Mahada for the third LCS, Mat Salleh for the fourth LCS, Tok Janggut for the fifth LCS and Mat Kilau for the sixth LCS – but not one LCS has been completed and no work has started on the sixth LCS.

Najib’s reply yesterday to DAP Publicity Secretary and MP for Kulai, Teo Nie Ching is the best proof that Najib was the “hidden hand” behind the RM9 billion LCS scandal.

He was not only the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister at the relevant time of the procurement of the six LCS, but he was Defence Minister twice, the first time from 1991-1995 and the second time from 2,000 to 2,008.

I had asked Zahid Hamidi why as Defence Minister from 2009 to 2013, he overturned the decision as recommended by the Royal Malaysian Navy to contract six Dutch-made Sigma LCS and chose the Scorpene manufacturer’s six French-made Gowind LCS on July 11, 2011 without consulting the Navy, the end-user?

Could Zahid explain why it took nearly a year from October 2009 to May 2010 and six meetings with the Royal Malaysian Navy on the Navy ‘s recommendation to procure the Sigma LCS, with the Defence Minister giving final approval on 26th May 2011 for the Sigma procurement, and why the decision was overturned in three days on 11thJuly 2011 because of the representation of the contractor, without consulting the Royal Malaysian Navy?

Now, the cat is out of the bag and everything is clear – Zahid had acted on the instruction of Najib as Prime Minister and Finance Minister in utter disregard of the views and objections of the end-user, the Royal Malaysian Navy.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on the RM9 billion LCS scandal should be a best-seller, as it is an absorbing horror story of corruption, fraud, abuse of power, mismanagement and criminality in the public service.

Now I understand why Najib had been so active on his Facebook in the past week to defend the RM9 billion LCS scandal and even to blame the Pakatan Harapan for the scandal.

It is sad to read of Zahid testimony before the PAC on 25th October 2021, for it was clear that the Defence Minister at the relevant time refused to recognise Royal Malaysian Navy as the “end-user”, justifying the complaint of the then head of the Royal Malaysian Navy, Abdul Aziz Jaafar that “something is gravely wrong and why his 10 letters of protest at the change of SIGMA to GOWOIND- five to the Defence Minister and two to the Prime Minister – were completely ignored.

There were four “Original Sins” of the RM9 billion LCS scandal, namely:

• The mysterious change from Dutch-made Sigma LCS to French-made Gowind LCS;
• The disregard of the views and stand of the end-user, the Royal Malaysian Navy – which caused the then RMF chief, Abdul Aziz to remark that :”there is no precedent of the design being decided by the main contractor and not by the end user”.
• The use of part of the funds meant for the LCS procurement to pay off the bad debts of another old project;
• The appointment of the “middle-man” companies, Contraves Advanced Devices Sdn. Bhd. (CAD) dan Contraves Electrodynamics Sdn. Bhd. (CED) which the Forensic Report found had caused the price for the equipments from OEM to be increased double and triple fold.

I welcome the Cabinet decision to declassify two reports, the report of the Committee on Procurement, Governance and Finance chaired by former Auditor General Ambrin Buang and the report from a forensic audit on the LCS project.

But this is not enough.

The Cabinet must go one step further – to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry not only to bring the wrongdoers to book but to find the best solution to the RM9 billion LCS scandal to protect the security and sovereignty of the nation.