Making Sense of our Defence Spending
Our
defence budget since 2011 were as follows:-
2011 13.82bn
2012 13.71bn
2013 15.2bn
2014 16.1bn
What
have we got to show? On paper we have the following assets. ‘Assets’ appear to
be a favourite term of expression for the military hardware we have. Yes, let’s take a look into our assets and see
whether we can justify our defence spending.
When
MH370 was reported missing in the South China Sea, we didn’t send our
celebrated submarines there because the military says, the ocean there is too
shallow for the subs to operate. In any case, our submarines are designed to search
and destroy. We responded by saying, we only wanted the search part- no need to
destroy. The military chiefs didn’t respond to that.
We
did not send our submarine rescue ship either- the one built by a company known
as Target Resources Sdn Bhd. We are paying RM6 million a month to Target Resource’s
to be on standby. How come we did not send the SRS? Singapore did.
The
fact that we did not, suggest that our own SRS hasn’t got all the specs with
full underwater search capabilities. Do we have a remote operated vehicle that
comes along with our SRS? Do we have trained divers on the ships- the ones using
suits like astronauts? If we don’t have these, then what did we spend on?
Now
our Captain Kirk PM says, using calculations never done before, it is without doubt
we conclude that MH370 ended in the Indian Ocean. Ended means what? It crashed
into the Indian Ocean? It stayed suspended in the netherworld suggested by the
UMNO VVIP Bomoh?
Despite
saying that, Hishamudin can come along to say the PM did not say the plane
crash into the Indian Ocean. Even till now, he is still muddling. Yet there are
people who say Hisham has done well. Done well measured by which standards? By the
standards of school dropouts?
Then
why all the sombre mood? Then why the entire sorrowful rendition? Ended there
means what it’s supposed to mean- the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean and
there were no survivors.
But
since the plane ended into the Indian Ocean- where the ocean is deep enough- isn’t
it time to mobilise our submarines? UK has sent its submarine to search for the
plane. We must now send ours because the primary responsibility to muster a
credible number of credible assets lies with us. The plane is ours and we have
Malaysians on that plane.
On
paper it’s reported Malaysia has:-
Air
power: total 224 units of aircraft with 84 helicopters. How may are mission
capable and have full combat systems?
Land
power: tanks- 74 units; towed artillery pieces- 20; AFVs-1318.
Navy
power: total strength 61; Frigates- 4; Corvettes-4, submarines-2; coastal
craft-39; Mines warfare-4.
We
have 224 units of aircrafts? Why were these not employed during the Lahad Datu
invasion? Why did we resort to chartering Air Asia planes when we were not in a
total war?
41 comments:
The RMAF is incompetence group...you bet Dato' if war breaks out we are finish. this is the best time to conduct an investigation to find out the truth or else the nation is in deep shit with all the moron generals at the command....
Dato,
Our assets are too "valuable" to be used because we pay billions RM but got those worth computable in sen only.He he he.
The balance of the expenditure were paid for economic well being of those who LOVED" the country less than self.
Dato,
I believe you have forgotten to add our other "assets" like the hundred thousand over FISHING BOATS .
Mannnnnn ! Billions leaked and not one "asset" to depend on .
Our subs have "leakage" problem, our fighters have engine problem and our "men" have buncit problem.
God help our country.
Not a bad list of assets but has anyone actually do a physical inspection to see if these really exist?
If we crossed that hurdle and these assets do exist, are they in an operating condition, i.e. can the ships sail and can the planes fly?
Abdullah Badawi said our maintenance culture iillek! So was he referring to our "assets"? Like always, everything we have is "on paper only". Our PM is all wayang. So when a real crisis hits, still can play wayang, but minus the foreign press! They all kacau. Otherwise we will be wayang with big screen and surround sound. TV3 and TV Bernama...wah everything ok lah! Only westerners and CHinese too critical.
Pls ask PM, what is the purpose of spending billions on submarines?
Our miserable submarines:-
1. cant defend the country from foreign invasion from some 3rd world militants, Philipine.
2. cant do any search and rescue mission for MH370
3. my question to PM is what is the functions of our submarines?
Sack the Defense Minister and all the generals to be Court Martial. Then the truth will come out and you bet Dato'.
Should be an audit to verify the existance and combat readiness of all M'sian Armed Forces assets.
Don't forget the "Flying Coffin" a.k.a. Nuri Helicopters.
Where is audit negara TS Amrin Buang....go for it man...now is the time or never
Lu kan MP? WHy asking in blogsphere? Do it in Parliment la. WHy only know how to spew hatred and confusion amongst readers? Actually your agenda is to create confusion and negativity towards the government. Your boss dinosour Lim has been doing this for umpteenth years and where does it get him? nowhere!! So, keep up the donkey work and you'll end up like him!!
Did Hisham handle well? Why not have a look at his exclusive interviews with CCTV. One thing is obvious tho', he has perfected the art of answering with NO ANSWER!
anon 15:14
lu bolo..gua sudah tanya dlm parlimen. masa ada 15 minit. belum sempat tanya habis, sudah kena berenti.
jadi gua kongsi sama rakyat supaya semua rakyat tahu BN tipu rakyat. belanja biliun biliun semua tak boleh pakai.
BN angkat wang rakyat, kita mesti tanya macam mana itu wang lu orang hantam.
bolo punya olang. narn bohtenarn, kui bohtee kui.
Malaysia certifies GM 400 air defence system (Janes Defence Weekly; 20th February 2013)
ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS) has announced that the Royal Malaysian Air Force has finalised full system acceptance of S-band (2-4 GHz) Ground Master 400 (GM 400) long-range air defence radars.
The GM 400 is paired with TRS' Sentry command and control system in the Malaysian Air Defence Ground Environment Sector Operations Centre III (MADGE) programme.
"The C2 system we've executed in Malaysia represents technological integration at its best," Kim Kerry, CEO of US Operations for TRS, said.
"We worked with our Malaysian customers to integrate their legacy system and have augmented it with proven technologies."
The MADGE system features multi-radar tracking while the GM 400 radar will provide additional long-range surveillance.
The S-band GM 400 entered production in 2008 and has also been procured by Canada, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, and Slovenia.
The system is packaged in a single 6 m-long ISO container. Its features include digital beam forming, stacked beams, full Doppler modes, counter countermeasures provision and a tactical ballistic missile detection capability.
Targets can be detected at altitudes of up to 30,480 m (100,000 ft) and at ranges of between 5 km and 390 km.
Dato, that idiot who bad mouth you is either a moron or having a permanent head damaged. Most of us here know how corrupted & incompetent BN/UMNO is.
Fighting ships of the 60s(Confrontation)
http://rmncomms.webs.com/goodoldays.htm
Some one wrote in the Facebook that one submarine has been scrapped and the other is back in France for repairs.
Anything is possible now. UMNO has fleeced us big time. Our billions are in the bank accounts.
@anon 15:14 - lu betut-betut bolo kalau dato cakap lu macam narn bohtenarn, kui bohtee kui. Pigilah parliament satu kali ikut bahas MP-mp BN dan Pakatan. Siapa macam kartun, siapa ada isi. Tengok berapa saja MP yang hadir dan siapa nyenyak tidur.
Bolo pun mau klitik olang, Hai yah. Sapu hingus dulu Ok.
woweee, Malaysia has got so many assets, time to deploy them, no fudging pls!!! Why depend on others when Malaysians should be proud of our wonderful assets. Unless, omg, Dato Sak are you implying the assets will sink or end up there?
Has the chief look at the mirror himself before saying this???http://www.navy.mil.my/index.php/media-massa/berita/berita-utama/item/685-jangan-tuding-jari-pada-perkhidmatan-ptl
The armed forces is in bad state.. if the war break up we are in the deep SHIT.. please do something before its too late.. Corruption is very heavy in the armed forces esp the navy..
Datuk,
Don't know wanna cry or laugh.......Just include this clip
Guys & Gals,
Just enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At_rwWJQd4U
Submarines might get lost or missing if send to Indian Ocean!
Dato Sak,
Our Scorpene subs are in the dry docks waiting for spare parts. Our SRS ships are waiting to be built. Our military aircrafts are in the hangers waiting for their engines. Our divers are waiting for the oxygen tanks to be filled with oxygen.
Our PM, Defence Minister, Chief of Armed Forces, Air and Navy are waiting for their brains transplants.
Dato,
You missed a critical "ASSET" - where are are our SaT?
we have 6 and 4 of them are measat (astro etc) which are purely for commercial purposes.... the other 2 which are recent purchases (circa 2010) are meant for goverment purposes, specifically for surveillance and the means it must be able to capture images, pray tell where are they [please dont say it is in Lumut undergoing maintenance with them KD's]...
oh, one of them SAT is named after our One PM,razak.
From walla's (2 April 2014 16:59) list, it just shows that Malaysia has indeed acquired an impressive array of gizmos and state of the art hardware.
For sure questions galore will spring in the minds of concerned Malaysians:
1) how come the technological integration at its best in the form of "TRS' Sentry command and control system" could not even raise an alarm when a blip of an 'incognito' plane crossed our airspace?
2) isn't the region around Pulau Perak (the area in Malacca Straits where plane went out of radar 'sight') within range of this "GM 400 radar will provide additional long-range surveillance"?
3) are we too coy to reveal these assets even during a justifiable time of distress or are we just being stealthy neighbours by keeping these under wraps and close to the chest?
4) are assets fully complemented and accompanied by expertise and trained personnel to operate and maintain? Or do we have a "Lamborghini" that has missing engine parts or does anyone know how to open its doors?
5) with all these assets why the incoherence and inconsistencies in the admissions, retractions and explanations by defence chiefs and ministers alike?
6) or is there something to cover up? (hope it's not to cover up the missing of more than MH370).
It is ironic that even nations, seemingly poorer and less technologically advanced than ours, appear to be able to contribute useful resource and hardware in the SAR effort.
Dato,
It amazes me when you answered so candidly @ 2 April 2014 16:47!
It goes to show that even though you are a Dato, you still speaks like the Rakyat.
Besides, by allowing your opponent to comment, it further shows that you do not practice censorship.
Well done, Dato!
Sorry !
It is silently spoken among miltary people that IF mal attacks Sg or the other way around, Sg needs only 5 hours to dismantle the entire "assets" of mal both sides of the south china sea.
State of the art equipments that are singlemindly maintained for use at the split of a second to demobilise and demolish entire "assets" of its foe.
Saya rasa sedih sgt2...sedih cuz we still got people who does not know that our country is KO instead of saying we are OK...how long these people can be in denial saying there is nothing wrong with our beloved country???
Saya nak Malaysia re-born utk generasi baru, utk perpaduan sejagat yg lebih ikhlas & natural...no more hanky panky thing between the lines!!
It's moot whether any of the official statements is fact and not fart but for argument's sake, let's accept the plane had turned back and was detected by our military radar but ignored as non-hostile.
The question then is this: if the plane was considered non-hostile but off-route, shouldn't caution have been exercised enough to scramble planes failing which a simple G2G phone call to give Singapore the plane's squawk code to fire up its Awac radar to trace the plane's route?
In this region, only Singapore has Awacs and at least one would be in the sky covering the region so a quick alert would have pinpointed the location instantly.
The whole idea of national defense seems to have been lost in the melee just to make bucks out of defense budgets within a narrow purview that excludes regional mercy cooperation especially when assets are insufficient despite an annual fifteen billion ringgit military budget.
It's not about systems but 24x7 human contingency readiness. One should not be so awed by systems as to relegate mission-critical preparedness to hardware. One would have thought 911 was enough a telling lesson on the matter of making assumptions which are outside the purview of systems which are just tools.
Why is this important? Say there is another catastrophe in the making. A helicopter overflies an oil supertanker coursing through the straits and someone drops a radioactive bomb. It explodes.
What contingency action must take place within twenty four hours to save the world economy from global meltdown even if the omission to do anything concrete would instantly have sunk our own economy?
And on the matter of helicopters, it was mentioned that two of our assets deployed earlier were eurocopters. Were they private sector or public sector? If public sector, when and how many were purchased and for how much each?
The message here is while we are looking for a black box, the biggest black box is the Umno government.
While the whole world has immediate questions, the Umno government has only evasive answers, each contradicting the previous in rapid succession.
Small wonder the vietnamese gave up and that after complaining only one attache had communicated with them.
Equally small wonder the chinese are incensed especially after being told off that their public release of a satellite image was against protocol with that wound later rubbed further by blaming their media and blocking their citizens from the international press which is now rankling at being made persona non grata even in press conferences that are just press releases of no substance save expanded excusatory ramblings.
Yet equally stupefying was taking the Immarsat model as definitive indication on the fate of the plane, for that matter imputing suspicion on the cockpit without even one credible reasoning why anyone would take such chaotic length if the objective is to crash.
If all this makes no sense but as bonus makes a mockery of national pride, how can any new defense spending afterwards make any sense especially when defense spending before seems at best overpriced and ineffectual?
It's all about the (.........of) quality and maturity of people running this country. Choose your own word wisely from now on. Finito are we.
One other matter about this tragic event.
When the focus was exclusively on the mangosteens, the implication is on the lithium batteries.
Lithium is a very small atom highly susceptible to moisture, packing notwithstanding. Given the size of the workforce, why was there no parallel confirmation on what type of lithium was actually in the cargo bay?
If that cargo bay had caught fire, it could have disabled and 'turned off' the transponder. Fire lives on oxygen and rarefied altitudes have less oxygen. That could explain the reason for the sudden ascent to forty four thousand feet.
Let the truth be told; there were 38 locals too.
Dear Sak,
It pains me very much to see the level to which we have desended to.A singapore armed forces guy who i met was saying how they buy state of the art and latest weapons for their use.
Why are we buying second hand or reconditioned equipment and why the talk about commissions for purchasing our fire power.
I hope the powers that be now and in future buy equipments that are free of commission and get the best price even if we have to pay a bit extra in taxes with no more 'brokers' deal direct.
The safety and security of malaysia must be the first priorty.
All personnel manning our critical assets must be the best and top of the class even it means incurring more in salaries.
My casual friends in the forces say that we are strong and disciplined and can weather any storm.
We must seperate politics from security of our country. Just today we hear about the sabah kidnapping. WHY? Why? Its so sickening.
As i wrote at 9.46 earlier about the "ifs"which i personally think wont happen, we must not even think of war but in the event it takes place, ALL assets must be in tip top condition and all our boys in green and blue must be well trained and to atract the best , salaries must be at par with the best there is and their welfare well taken care of.
I hope irrespective of which party one belongs to, we must uphold the safety and security of our country.
I think najib and hishamudin is doing their best given the circumstances but i hope they wont jump the 'gun' when giving PC .
I hope and pray that the mh370 saga will find an amicable end.
Rajan.
Corruption and mismanagement has caused all our military assets became inaffective and vunerable when a crisis took place. Still they (Govt) didn't learn from what has happened in Sipadan previously or they really did not want to learn. Pray for much better Malaysia...
The function of our submarines is for 'milking the money' and for sightseeing hahaha...better put as new attraction for 'Putrajaya Lake Cruise' LOL
it seems that the country is being run by bunch of idiots but highly paid by ppl money????
Can one of you ask the Australians why they are not sending their subs to search? All 6 Australian subs based in Fremantle, next to SAR base some more. http://www.nti.org/analysis/articles/australia-submarine-capabilities/
This sound of group who are already kenyang with cake pembahagian umngok. LDia makan ciili mesti lah terasa padas..
Anyone know, has the cargo manifest from MH370 been released yet? At the time it was delayed as still under investigation. Now, what?
The lithium batteries may be the missing link to the disappearance of MH370, and may lend credence to Walla's posting 13.08.
Yes, the truth must be told, truth sets us free.
Sure we Malaysian like second hand things from recond cars using ap to a long long list
1/2
This is an identical copy of what I posted in Din Merican’s blog, “Defense spending UP. What’s Happening?” dated April 2, 2014, except for cross-referencing.
We have lost our ‘asabiyya’, our ‘virtu’; see footnote.
“… the point I would like to make is that Singapore takes its security seriously, whether there exists a visible threat or not. In terms of capability, there is little doubt that despite its size, it has one of the most powerful military forces in Southeast Asia. Its recent acquisition of submarines goes to show that the republic places deterrence at the forefront of its defence. If one is to compare the order of battle between Singapore and Malaysia, one finds a serious gap in favour of our southern neighbour.
To me in terms of prestige, we are not able to hold our heads up high. There are many discrepancies between the two forces, not only in terms of sophistication, but also in terms of numbers. For instance, according to…Singapore has some 350 light tanks as compared to Malaysia’s 26. If people argue that Malaysia is not a ‘tankable’ country, then can someone please explain the rationale for that kind of figure in Singapore, not including a reported 60 main battle tanks believed to be based in Taiwan for training purposes?
In terms of sea power, Singapore has three submarines and six corvettes armed with Harpoon missiles, not including the recent purchase of Lafayette frigates, as compared to Malaysia, which owns four frigates, six corvettes but no submarines. And in terms if air power, Singapore has roughly 59 F-16s (based abroad as well as on order), as compared to Malaysia’s eight F-18s and 17 MiG-29s.” [pg 164 ‘Malaysia in Transition – Politics and Society’ by Abdul Razak Baginda (Asean Academic Press Ltd, 2003)]
On submarines, as we all like to congratulate winners of jackpots, we say, “the rest is history”.
“The recent statement by the Chief of Navy Abdul Aziz Jaffar as to the justification of the acquisition of the Scorpene submarines is further evidence that our armed forces is mired in the political quagmire that UMNO finds itself in.
The controversial purchase not to mention operational efficiency of these submarines pales in comparison, to the politicisation of our security apparatus, which has reached unprecedented depths unheard of in so-called functional democracies. Is this evidence of what Prime Minister Najib Razak aspires to as the best democracy in the world?
Abdul Aziz, if you remember, was one of the service chiefs lined up behind (looking rather sheepish) the Chief of Defence Forces, General Zulkifli, when he made an emotional appeal which also included subtle threats and comments which were unacceptable, not to mention unprofessional for an officer holding the highest rank in the armed forces to make.
…Zulkifli’s characterisation of the actions of these professionals as disloyal (treacherous) and haranguing of the opposition was beyond the pale, especially considering the fact that former Chief of Navy the late Admiral Tan Sri Sharif had gone public in the mainstream (Bernama) press and condemned the practice of vote/voter manipulation he had observed and which was brought to his attention that went on in the Navy.
…During my tenure onboard the KD Hang Tuah, where I was the Executive officer, Abdul Aziz was then a young sub lieutenant. What is interesting about Abdul Aziz is that he is the first locally trained officer to be appointed Chief of Navy from the training establishment K.D.PELANDUK.
2/2
The late Captain ‘Dick’ Khoo Tee Chuan built from the ground up the training establishment which started out as The Cadet and Recruit Training Establishment (CART) which was later commissioned as K.D.PELANDUK. So much for the idea that the non-Malays are not patriotic enough as espoused by our current Minister of Defence. But digress.
Much as been made of the 1511 statement of Abdul Aziz but what is worrying as pointed out a former (Colonel) Ranger (Malay), is that the statement itself in all its historical distortions is an overt ploy to play to the racial sentiments of the Malay polity. Or should that be, the UMNO polity?” [pg 345-346 ‘NO COUNTRY FOR RIGHTEOUS MEN AND OTHER ESSAYS IN A CULTURE OF OFFENDEDNESS’ by S Thayaparam, Commander (rtd) Royal Malaysian Navy.
Commander (rtd) S Thayaparam is the very same officer who was one of those who gave evidence in support of Malaysia’s arguments in the Pulau Putih/Pedra Branca case at the International Court of Justice. Though he acquitted himself so professionally, the case ended in Singapore’s favour; the judgment was made on 23 May 2008. To him, my salute, Sir.
I leave it to readers to reassess the role, functions, duties and obligations of our servicemen, but for the moment, my primary concern is the mental and emotional health of our submariners. (ref: Sakmongkol’s 1 APRIL 2014: How is our Defense Spending Structured – http://sakmongkol.blogspot.com/2014/04/how-is-our-defense-spending-structured.html)
But for whatever it is worth, let me conclude here by saying that I had the privilege to be attached to an institution in Brunei Darussalam where small groups of navy personnel were sent for training in specific modules related to marine engineering. One thing was obvious to all expatriate staff there: because of the bilingual system of education — students are taught in English from Primary Four onwards in all subjects except those which have ‘spiritual’ contents, like Islam, Art, History (till Primary Six) — Brunei students do not face any problems whatsoever undergoing tertiary training either locally or overseas. And this accounts for the big number of highly trained professionals there — localisation, thirty years after regaining full sovereignty from protectorate-status is so successful that it reinforces my pet belief that an absolute monarchy isn’t all that bad after all. All a nation needs to be successful, irrespective of political systems, is an enlightened leader who cares for his people, as personified by the late 28th Sultan in succession, Sir Omar Ali Saifuddin. He insisted that his people must continue to gain access to the best education and training the world can offer, through English. And believe you me, Bruneians have NOT lost their Malay heritage or their devotion to Islam.
A nation no matter how its political leadership defines itself but populated by a corrupt elite and its drooling hangers-on is easily shamed by free-flowing electrons in the ether – righteousness is not so easily defeated by the sycophantic officially-sanctioned media.
My time is almost over: arthritic fingers and poor eye-sight are testimony that as nature exacts its just vengeance on an individual it also rewards him with a last gasp of, and last grasp at, misplaced self-gratuitous self-attention.
What the hell, why not?
N.B: On ‘Asabiyya’, please go to my thread number 32, belatedly posted in Din Merican’s under “Poor Quality in Malaysia is Worrying, says World Bank Economist” dated 25 March 2014, for an excellent and compact illumination of Ibn Khaldoun’s ‘asabiyya’, or ‘virtu’ as defined by Machiavelli; the penultimate paragraph should read, ‘…by being aware of parts of the past helps us plan parts of our future.’
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