Rancangan Malaysia ke-sepuluh telah diumumkan pada bulan Jun dan ini adalah rancangan pembangunan lima tahun yang paling penting dalam pembangunan Malaysia. Ia merangkumi pembangunan semua sektor Negara termasuk bidang sosial, ekonomi, keselamatan dan pertadbiran am.

Angkatan tentera adalah tembok atau tulang belakang pertahanan keselamatan Negara. Boleh dikatakan tanpa pengorbanan anggota angkatan tentera dahulu dan sekarang, kita tidaklah dapat menikmati kesejahteraan dan keamanan pada hari ini.

Tetapi apa yang menghairankan ialah Rancangan Malaysia yang baru dibentang baru-baru ini, langsung tidak menyentuh pembangunan keupayaan pertahanan dan angkatan tentera. Dalam dokumen RMK 10 yang setebal 449 muka surat ini langsung tidak menyentuh sepatah perkataan mengenai pertahanan.

Berdasarkan maklumat am yang diberi oleh RMK 10, sektor keselamatan mendapat 10% dari RM230 billion peruntukan. Daripada jumlah tersebut, berapakah peruntukan dalam bidang pertahanan dan juga pecahan peruntukan kepada Polis, Agensi Penguatkuasa Maritim Malaysia dan Angkatan Tentera.

Selain itu, saya ingin menyentuh perkara senarai perolehan kelengkapan tentera dibawah RMK 10. Sebelum itu, saya telah menghantar soalan kepada kementerian pertahanan mengenai senarai perolehan kelengkapan untuk lima tahun depan, tetapi soalan saya ditolak kerana ianya didakwa menyentuh kerahsiaan.

Tambahan lagi, soalan-soalan saya yang menyentuh perolehan kelengkapan yang sedang dan siap dilaksanakan juga ditolak atas alasan yang sama. Saya ingin menegaskan di sini bahawa adalah tidak munasabah menolak soalan-soalan tersebut memandangkan isu-isu menyentuh rahsia ketenteraan tidak wujud.

Pertama, saya memahami pembelian kelengkapan tentera adalah sensitif dan perlu menjaga rahsia ketenteraan seperti unsur-unsur spesifikasi dan atur gerak.

Tetapi, soalan yang ditanya bukan bertujuan untuk mendapat rahsia ketenteraan seperti yang disebut, tetapi untuk mendapat maklumat latar belakang pembelian dan pembangunan kelengkapan tentera yang telah diumumkan oleh Kementerian Pertahanan sendiri.

Jikalau Kementerian Pertahanan sendiri yang membuat pengumuman pembelian kelengkapan tersebut, maka ini tidaklah dikira sebagai rahsia lagi. Saya menyentuh:

1. pembelian Vera-E Radar Pasif dari Omnipol, Republik Czech yang telah beberapa kali dicatatkan dalam Laporan Tahunan Kementerian Pertahanan 2007 dan 2008. Dan laporan tersebut telah menyatakan projek timbal balas Vera-E sedang dipantau oleh kementerian.

2. pembelian Cruise Missile diumumkan oleh bekas Timbalan Menteri Pertahanan sendiri di Dewan Rakyat.

3. Institut Penyelidikan Sains dan Teknologi Pertahanan (STRIDE) yang telah menunjukkan peluru berpandu Taming Sari XK98 keseluruh negara pada 31 Ogos 2007 bersempena Perarakan Merdeka 2007 di Dataran Merdeka.

Kedua, pembelian kelengkapan ketenteraan adalah mengguna peruntukan awam dan perlu mendapat persetujuan Parlimen. Oleh itu, adalah munasabah dan kepatutuan untuk ahli parlimen membincang dan mengetahui latar belakang atau basic information (dengan izin) pembelian kelengkapan ketenteraan yang mahal ini.

Ketiga, Ahli Parlimen dan rakyat mempunyai hak untuk mengetahui senarai pembelian kelengkapan ketenteraan yang akan dilancar pada lima tahun depan iaitu dalam Rancangan Malaysian Kesepuluh. Memandangkan pembelian kelengkapan ketenteraan adalah sangat mahal dan mudah berlaku penyelewengan, maka adalah perlu dipantau oleh Parlimen dan rakyat supaya berselaras dengan prinsip-prinsip good governance (dengan izin) dan meningkatkan lagi ketelusan kerajaan.

8 Billion untuk membeli 257 buah Kereta Perisai AV8

Kerajaan baru mengumumkan di DSA 2010 pada 20 April 2010 yang mana akan membelanja RM 8 billion yang mana adalah perolehan terbesar dalam sejarah Malaysia untuk memperolehi 257 buah kereta perisai pembawa anggota AV8 dari syarikat DEFTECH dan FNSS supaya mengganti semua kereta Condor dan Sibmas yang sudah usang. Ini bermaksud, secara amnya , setiap AV8 berkos RM31 juta!

Walaupun difahamkan RM8 bilion ini merangkumi RM 400 juta bagi membangunkan kemudahan DEFTECH di Pekan, dan juga kos R&D dan integrasi dan ujian, namun angka tersebut tidaklah munasabah sehingga mencecah beberapa billion ringgit. Selain itu, berbanding dengan program pembangunan kereta perisai 8×8 di luar Negara, ia juga dilihatkan satu jumlah yang amat tinggi. Mengikut kajian, purata kos sebuah kereta perisai 8×8 ialah 2 -3 juta USD, atau dalam RM ialah 10 juta lebih. Kenapa AV8 kita ini mahal hampir dua kali ganda dari luar negeri?

Pihak Kementerian juga tidak menjelaskan bagaimana RM8 bilion ini diguna dalam pecahan kos R&D, ujian, integrasi, pembangunan infrastruktur, kos pembelian harta intelek dari Turkey’s FNSS Company dan unit kos. Kenapa perolehan ini adalah melalui direct negotiation (dengan izin), bukan secara tender terbuka memandangkan ia menelan wang yang begitu tinggi.

Soalan Bujet 2010

Anggaran perbelanjaan mengurus 2010 telah menunjukkan penurunan dalam bidang latihan, logistic, operasi dan pengurusan. Adakah penurunan yang banyak ini akan menjejaskan quality latihan dan keberkesanan melaksanakan operasi-operasi? Tetapi, di sini telah timbul satu soalan. Mengikut permerhatian terhadap prestasi budget KEMENTAH, difahamkan bahawa KEMENTAH secara kebiasaannya membuat anggaran perbelanjaan tahun depan kurang dari sebenar yang diperlukan. Misalnya, dalam budget 2009 menunjukkan anggaran perbelanjaan latihan untuk pertahanan darat 2008 adalah RM35,472,600. Tapi, di dalam budget 2008 untuk perkara sama adalah dicatatkan sebagai RM19,072,600. Di manakah angka yang sebenarnya?

KEMENTAH sepatutnya memberi maklumat yang lebih tepat dalam budget tahunan. Janganlah memberi penilaian yang rendah dari sebenar atau diperlukan. Apakah dasar yang digunapakai KEMENTAH di dalam membuat anggaran ini? Apa statistic dan formula yang digunakan? Dan, adakah kerana tiap-tiap kali Kementerian memberi anggaran rendah mengakibatkan kementerian terpaksa memohon peruntukan tambahan dalam sidang dewan parlimen masa depan?

Selain itu, saya melihat anggaran perbelanjaan pembangunan untuk tiga perkhidmatan membeli perlengkapan yang dicatatkan di dalam budget 2010 ialah RM10. Mungkin pihak kementerian boleh jelaskan peruntukan RM10 yang dinyatakan tersebut.

Sekian ucapan penggulungan saya .

Two days ago, I had lunch with a parliamentarian and two senior bureaucrats from Germany on their first official visit to Kuala Lumpur. They came, they saw and were impressed with our capital city and the development they had seen so far as they travelled around KL and its environs. They had obviously been well-briefed by their own government agencies about the social and political climate in our country and apparently were extremely well informed on Malaysian affairs. The Germans, as we all know, are meticulous in everything they do, and so I was not at all surprised when one of them who headed his organization’s foreign department asked this penetrating question.

“Why is there all this flurry of activity to bring about a regime change when the government has brought so much prosperity to the country?” I must admit that for a while I was stumped for words. Why indeed! When at last I recovered my composure, I explained between mouthfuls of tasty offerings that what was apparent was not always real. In our wide-ranging conversation I reflected aloud our national concerns in the following terms.

Underneath all the glint, gleam and glitter of aluminium, stainless steel and plate glass lies a sad tale of greed and corruption, involving the political and bureaucratic elites who govern and administer this land. There will be official denials galore. Some years ago, Transparency International estimated, somewhat conservatively many thought, that Malaysian public infrastructure projects cost 30% more than they should. As far as political corruption is concerned, a major component of the ruling coalition has admitted that problem exists among its membership and the party is wrestling with it as best it can.

In any case, if corruption in national life had been robustly confronted instead of wasting scarce resources and time on cosmetic touch-ups, if fine rhetoric was backed by resolute deeds, and if there was more of that all important ingredient called “political will”, Malaysia would have emerged economically, socially and politically stronger as a society. Instead, close to three decades of the Mahathir and Abdullah stewardship of this nation, our ratings, judged by every social, economic and political indicator, in one survey after another, have continued to take a tumble with regular monotony, with little or no prospect of improvement any time soon.

The real issue here is not just how well we have done, but, more to the point, how much better we would have succeeded in all aspects of national development and social integration if we had adopted policies that were fair for all. For example, much of the sense of marginalisation felt by certain ethnic groups as well as the rural poor could have been avoided had more thought been given to the needs of our citizens irrespective of race or creed. Instead, for much post-Merdeka period, we spent our time and energy on implementing policies that have tended to divide rather than unite us.

In earlier times, we were happy enough to put up with restrictions on personal liberties and human rights violations, up to a point. We believed when we were told that a developing country that had just broken away from colonial subjugation and, since 1948 for close to two decades, living in fear under the menacing, dark sky of militant communism, could not expect to enjoy the luxury of life taken for granted in a full blown democracy. Sacrifices were demanded and given, on the whole, without a murmur.

However, as the country developed from a plantation economy to a much more complex industrial society, and as Malaysians became better educated, they began to claim their rights under the Constitution and to question the manner in which their country was being governed on their behalf by elected representatives more interested in feathering their own little nest than performing their work in the public interest. They had seen with their own eyes how the institutions of government once admired and respected had been systematically compromised by a government that threw ethical behaviour out of the window.

Coupled with policies that ignored the need for inclusiveness in a multi racial society such as ours, public confidence in the BN coalition, already fragile to begin with, following one scandal after another, evaporated into thin air. The steady slide down the slippery slope had begun. The people, having decided enough was enough, voted with their feet in the 12th General Elections to deny the ruling Barisan Nasional not only the 2/3rds parliamentary majority, something BN had always assumed as their birthright, but also succeeded in ousting the BN governments in five states. Change had indeed arrived and with it the realisation that ordinary Malaysians had come of political age by rejecting, in a totally unexpected demonstration of their power and judgement, the racial politics of fear, and in one dramatic gesture buried once and for all the ghost of 13th May 1969 that Barisan Nasional had refused to put to rest. It had become their stock in trade. People obviously could think for themselves, and could no longer be taken for granted and ignored.

As we sipped coffee towards the end of the meal, I made my final observation that material progress measured in economic terms alone was no substitute for an incorruptible regime that put great store by sound ethical governance principles and practices. My German friends left, I hope, with a better understanding why the well-fed people of this strange country wanted more than bread to sustain them in their relentless quest for a new Malaysia that is grounded on democratic principles, justice and equality for all. Therein lies the soul of a country.

Published on FEBRUARY 22, 2009 | MySinchew