Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi

Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi

Friday, November 12, 2010

is a "hole in the rectum"....and I am being extremely polite, for his statement that "non-Malays shun a military career because they lacked patriotism". His sense of history and the contributions of the Chinese, Indians and our brothers from East Malaysia towards the sovereignty of Malaysia is being actively abrogated by him. That is a racist and bigoted view, pure and simple. Go here to look at the winners of valour awards, not including those who had laid down their lives, are maimed, not forgetting the Non Malay Police Officers. Use the drop down menu in the archives on the top right column. Guess when the Chinese and Indians were bleeding and dying for this nation, he might just have been a "dirty glint in his father's eyes" or just "swimming in his father's cojones". I will not allow my emotions get to me by being vulgar talking about our Defence Minister who cannot construct a decent sentence in English, I will not dwell on that. I am not insulting this dull fellow, just so that this dimwitted, crass and shallow minded individual needs some input, who was the first Malaysian to be awarded the "Pingat Gagah Berani"? He was a Chinese! Sergeant Chong Yong Chin PGB of the First Federation Regiment, dey Zahid I guess you did not know that. Insults have to be politely reciprocated with civility, I am doing just that. Did you not know who was the first recipient of the "Pingat Gagah Berani" in the Congo? Hey you dingaling , that person too was a Chinese, Lt Lee Ah Pow PGB , read about how shoddily he was treated too! There was another young Chinese Officer, Lt David Fu Chee Meng, who too was awarded the PGB at the Battle of Tanah Hitam. So those guys were not patriotic enough for you? Here is my favourite, someone I know personally, Sergeant Choo Woh Soon PGB, my wife's uncle. The short guy in the centre is Sergeant Choo Woh Soon PGB. This guy, patriotic enough for you? How about this Indian Officer and Chinese soldier dying together to save your sorry butt from the Commies? ,Captain Shanmuganathan PGB and 207770 Ranger Mat Isa bin Hassan PGB, do not be deceived by the name Mat Isa, he was a Chinese. How about this Indian Officer who laid down his life at the "ripe old age of 24"? Captain Mohana Chandran al Velayuthan (200402) Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa . Not patriotic enough for you? How about this where a sorry excuse, for an officer, caused the death of 13 Italian airmen in the Congo, Malaysia's name had to be salvaged in this incident by 2Lt N.H. Siebel PGB and Captain Maurice Lam PGB, notice their names, they were Non Malays. How about the time in Bosnia where soldiers desecrated a Catholic Cross, again the situation was salvaged by the Non Malays. For posterity I have another link here. I will not even talk about the vandalising of the Hoba Meteorite in Namibia. Okay continuing some more, here is another Indian who got the PGB, 2Lt Panir Chellvum al Velaithan PGB. Still not patriotic enough for you? Here is another Indian, who after serving a total of 29 years in both the Police Force and the Army is denied his pension. The reason being he did not attend the weapons course and tactics course. What weapons and tactics course, when he and his men wiped out the remnants of the enemy in Selangor, what would his unshaved instructors teach him? Read about him, Captain Courageous aka Mukhtiar Singh s/o Sodagar Singh. In any other Army in the world today, they would have cited him for courage and piled honours on him without any questions asked, unfortunately he is an Indian in Malaysia, get that Zahid? Here is a picture of an all Chinese group of Kinta Valley Homeguards who fought the Malayan Communist Party. More pictures here The problem with people like Zahid Hamidi is he does not know about people like these Chinese and Indians who were willing to die for Malaysia unconditionally, they only wanted to be treated fairly. The current situation is like "some people are more equal than others". People like him are WIND BAGS, full of foul air and all empty talk. If you notice the minorities were significant in numbers in the forces when Malaysia was in danger, from the Japanese occupation of Malaya, the Emergency, Confrontation and the subsequent Emergency until the cessation of hostilities by the MCP. Remember the Communist Party of Malaya, did not surrender. It was a treaty for the cessation of hostilities. Freeing our Great Leader to push his agenda of Ketuanan Melayu, subsequently his achievements were these , he could not do it when the MCP was on the warpath as it would increase their numbers. Zahid being an ardent fan of this old goat, is still playing to the gallery. Soldiers who have served, the Non Malays know what it is to be discriminated against, because of their race and religion. Even the Bumiputras of Sabah and Sarawak are discriminated against, as most of them are Christians. While at this, being an ex- soldier and all, I have seen many East Malaysian Officers serving in combat units, why did not any one of them make it to General? Not good enough? Look at how brave, loyal and patriotic they are. Go to the archives. After seeing the results of the Sibu "buy elections", where the BN lost, I guess they saw the writing on the wall and recently promoted an Iban Officer to become the first Iban who made it to General, Stephen Mundaw, in September this year. Anyway that is peanuts, East Malaysians should demand and expect at least a 4 star General from amongst the Ibans, whose bodies have been littered across the battle fields in Malaysia. Their courage and ferocity in battle is unmatched. After having served many years and plodding along, being bypassed by juniors and incompetents. There so many grievances, not enough space to write at one go, is it not heart wrenching? Even your children, who are brilliant are discriminated by virtue of race and religion, you expect patriotism to burn brightly in the hearts of the Non Malays? Treat everyone equally on a level playing field, you will not need to ask for the Non Malays to defend this country, the numbers would be so huge that you would have to send most of them back. In the military the Non Malay is ridden like a horse, for the greater benefit of the majority. No rewards, when it comes to promotions and benefits, they forget you. You know that old race horse, it runs until it drops dead or put out to pasture. Most Non Malays make it to the rank of Major, I am sure you have heard this before, about the "infamous glass ceiling". That is the rank you have to be happy with. You are not promoted on merit, I know of guys who can barely speak English, but become Generals. During my time all the courses were in English. Ask the ex and serving Non Malays, not forgetting the subtle hints to convert. They do not even respect your faith by suggesting that, they look down on you. Relgious and racial discrimination go hand in hand together. I have also had the privilege of seeing a General's knees tremble, when he stepped out of my Infantry Fighting Vehicle, as I helped him down, this was after an exchange of fire. I was the escort commander and he was riding in my IFV in Somalia. A hundred Non Malays would without hesitation and asking questions, charge a hill of 10,000 enemy, if you treated them and their offspring, as Malaysians and not as Dhimmis and second class citizens to defend their country, Malaysia. I could continue shellacking Ahmad Zaid until the cows come home, it is us who are to be blamed. He is the MP for Bagan Datuk, those of us who continue supporting MCA and the MIC, are actually getting him elected year in, year out. Your votes have made him arrogant. If you notice his majority is actually shrinking. So the strongest message for that dimwit, would be to boot this racist UMNO supremacist out of Parliament in the next general elections. Never forget. Of course all of you out there can post your comments, feel free to use this post. source: http://7rangers.blogspot.com/2010/11/defence-minister-ahmad-zahid-hamidi.html

I am Malaysian, damn it.

After reading the below, it makes me wonder... I REALLY AM MALAYSIAN first, second, third and last.

Hahahaha... some politician jokers think they can change their race. BTW, I'm born in Malaysia, so is my father and mother. Only my grandfather is from China and my grandmother is from Siam.

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Sunday October 24, 2010

The many roots of Malays leave delegates in stitches

LIGHT exchanges over the origins of Malay and whether Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, who is of Turkish descent, could be regarded as Malay, had the delegates in stitches yesterday.

Fellow vice-president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal had the floor in stitches earlier when he said that party president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak didn’t include the Turks when defining the Malays in the country during his presidential address.

Hishammuddin said that even Shafie, whom he called “the pirate of Semporna”, had eloquently presented his speech in Malay, complete with poetry. Shafie is of Bajau descent.

Hishammuddin took the joke further by labeling Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as Jawa Bagan Datuk, Malacca chief minister Datuk Seri Ali Rustam as Bengali Malay, Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Zambri Abdul Kadir as mamak Malay, Datuk Seri Musa Aman as Malay-Pakistan-Dusun. To this, a delegate retorted he is a three-in-one Malay.

Putra Umno chief Datuk Azeez Abd Rahim was not left out.

“I have checked (with the National Registration Department) and the JPN director-general told me that Azeez’s (ethnic) status is unknown,” Hishammuddin said.

Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin also touched on a person’s roots.

“People ask me what am I. My late father was a Bugis and my late mother was a Javanese. I am a Malay,” he said.

Najib, in his winding-up speech, declared that the man of Turkish descent and the guy with “unknown status” are also Malays.

“We are all Malays. We must be united,” he said to loud applause from the floor.

On Thursday, Najib had given a long list of creeds and ethnic groups ranging from Bajau to Pakistanis, Arabs and Indian Muslims who were regarded as part of the Malay root.

source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/10/24/nation/7289147&sec=nation

Petronas secret revealed?

Whoa.... is it, is it? Nah... enjoy this article.

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Time to free Petronas from BN's firm grip

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 11:39

By Tan Kee Kwong

COMMENT I am alarmed by the fact that for the past three years, national oil company Petronas has given RM290 billion to the Barisan Nasional-led federal government.

What a fantastic sum of money? Can the prime minister and his two predecessors tell us the rakyat how they spent or wasted this huge sum of money?

As I have said before, Petronas as an entity was and still is quite a well run company but the past three prime ministers have ruined it all.

A special Act of Parliament passed in the 1970's – the Petroleum Development Act (PDA), ensured that Petronas was only accountable to the prime minister of the day. In the past, we had two ministers in charge of oil but without any say at all.

Even under PDA, the Finance Minister has no say, even the Cabinet cannot examine the true accounts of Petronas. What a shame. This is totally unacceptable.

Under Dr Mahathir Mohamad , dividends paid by Petronas to the government was about RM2 to RM3 billion annually.

And then when Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over, he forced Petronas to pay RM10 billion, and then increased it to RM20 billion before finally forcing the oil company to pay RM30 billion.

Where did all this money go? Did they go to mainly finance all the budget deficits during his rule?

It was during this time there were many useless defence spendings. Let's not forget that in the 1980s and 1990s, about RM100 billion of Petronas money went to bail out Bank Bumiputra, twice.

During the financial crisis in 1997, the government once again relied on Petronas to buy out shipping company MISC in order to bail out Mahathir's son.

KLCC land scandal

I remember in the mid-1950's my family stayed for two years in Jalan Pinang in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. At that time only the race course was there. As kids we enjoyed plucking the delicious rambutans there. Now however it is so different.

When the Petronas headquarters was housed in the Dayabumi building, there was a severe shortage of office space as Petronas operations expanded very fast.

Initially the plan was to build a new HQ in Jalan Tun Razak, opposite the Royal Selangor Golf Club, which presently sites the Prince Court Hospital.

That plan was aborted as the Department of Civil Aviation objected strongly as it was in the flight path of the Sungai Besi RMAF air base.

Then Petronas went ahead to buy a piece of land in Jalan Ampang, behind Yow Chuan Plaza for only RM30 million.

However suddenly Mahatir intervened and came out with a devious plan to steal the money from Petronas to enrich his special cronies.

Part of the plan was to create noise in the press on how the race course in Jalan Pinang was causing massive traffic jams every weekends. After that the federal government and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall decided that the race course must be shifted to Sungai Besi, its present site.

But the government did not ask the Turf Club to surrender or even sell its land to Petronas. What they did was to force the Turf Club to sell its prime land to a very special Mahathir crony.

In turn, the crony made a huge profit by selling off that land to Petronas for RM600 million. The top brass of Petronas was instructed not to negotiate the price and to just pay.

Oil blocks given away

During Abdullah's time, he oversaw a scandal that cost the nation US$100 billion by giving away two oil blocks to Brunei.

I wonder what made Abdullah to agree to give away our oil to Brunei. Maybe in one of his naps in public, he just assigned our rights to Brunei.

In the past Petronas went into joint sharing agreements with Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia and others.

This should have been the same agreement with Brunei in the case of Block L and Block M.

The BN government must come clean on the real affairs of Petronas. For starters, the PDA must be abolished and replaced by a better and transparent piece of legislation.

More importantly, the financial affairs of Petronas must be made accountable to the Parliament.

---

Tan Kee Kwong is a former deputy minister in the BN government. He is now a PKR leader.

Pictorial review of Taek Jho Low lavish spending

Here are some more pictures of Paris Hilton topless on a yacht off St. Tropez and partying at La Voile Rouge on Pampelonne beach in St. Tropez on her never ending France vacation financed by her new Malaysian tycoon boyfriend Taek Jho Low. Note the liberal use of bottles of champagne as super soaker. Because it is just what spoiled little rich bitches born into money do, Paris Hilton has been on a whirlwind vacation for around a month or so. By the way, I don't know who's bright idea it was to let Paris Hilton put her whore mouth on the biggest bottle of champagne ever, the same bottle that will be passed around like it was Paris Hilton's vagina. Everyone at this beach party now have oral herpes.

Her "new fella, chubby Malaysian playboy Taek Jho Low" was seen at the party wearing a Ferrari polo shirt and Ferrari cap. I am still not sure who she is banging, some press (British tabloids) reports say Zhen Low while others Taek Jho Low. But I am guessing it is Taek Jho Low because he is the chubby guy we have seen with her all month. Either way, she is banging one of these two brothers. Or perhaps she is banging both, I just don't know but the ladder is very likely knowing Paris Hilton. It is not beyond her to be sleeping with two guys coming from the same family. Taek Jho Low is spending millions of dollars on bottles of the most expensive champagne on Paris and her drinking buddies. He is laterally spending millions of dollars for champagne on Paris.

People were pouring a massive bottle of champagne over Paris Hilton's head and her sister Nicky join in on the fun too. What spoiled little bitches born into money do? The only natural thing for them of course, take it in the face. It's almost like Paris has been sprayed by men in this manner before. Just look at how happy she is in these pictures below. Mouth agape, tits out, surrounded by a crowd of men spraying her with foamy white fluid. I am just glad nobody ruined it for her by telling her it was champagne and not semen. After all this at the beach part, they were back to the 300-foot long cruiser yacht Tatoosh, luxuriously equipped with swimming pool, hot tub, gym, move theater, even a recording studio. Where Paris has been caught by paparazzi sunbathing topless on at least two occasions.

source: gutteruncensored

1.8 million GBP for a night's champagne?

What the hell!!! Now, it's from his younger brother who's also a billionaire at age 28.
What's happening to MalangSial? May God bless honest and righteous M'sians.

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Paris Hilton watched as the rival tycoons Zhen Low and Winston Fisher competed to see who could order more £600 bottles of Cristal in a St Tropez nightclub.

By Richard Eden, Telegraph.co.uk

As Joan Collins and her friends descend on St Tropez this week for a party on board Lady Joy, the yacht owned by the American socialite Denise Rich, they have been made to look positively austere.

Mandrake hears that two rival billionaires spent a staggering €2 million (£1.77 million) on champagne at Les Caves du Roy nightclub. Zhen Low, the younger brother of the Malaysian tycoon Jho Low, became involved in a competition with Winston Fisher, a New York property developer, to see who could order more £600 bottles of Cristal for their chums.

Guests included Paris Hilton, the socialite, who helped the cherubic Jho celebrate his 28th birthday with a four-day party in Las Vegas last year.

"Even by the standards of Les Caves, this was something else," says my man on the Côte d'Azur.

Dream on, you poor M'sians. Aiyooo...

Here's what happened to taxpayers' money that could really be put to better use in the kampongs without basic amenities.

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SPECIAL REPORT Over the last 23 years, Malaysia's defence spending has taken a whopping RM180 billion from the national coffers.

The average annual defence spending each year is close to 2.5 percent of the nation's GDP from 1987-2004, which should turn Malaysia into a country with decent defence capability, according to a defence analyst.

However, Malaysia's defence forces is in a sorry state which can only deal with 'military operations other than war' (MOOTW).

This is not surprising as allegations of corruption and mismanagement relating to defence procurement continually crop up.

Defence expenditure has been the second-largest item in the national budget until the global financial crisis hit Malaysia in 2008, resulting in other items overtaking it in the 2009 budget.

Defence Ministry expenditure has grown more than five times, from RM2.09 billion in 1987 to RM11.013 billion in 2010.

The total expenditure during this period was RM178.989 billion - the equivalent of building six Putrajayas or 60,000 primary schools.

The defence allocation ranges from 1.6-3.2 percent of the nation's GDP. According to Lam Choong Wah, editor of defence portal KL Security Review, this is moderate compared to the international average of 2 percent.

He pointed out that this level of spending should give Malaysia an appropriate level of military capacity but the reality shows the opposite.

But with so many obsolete weapons and equipment in hand, the defence system can only face low levels of military conflict and perform MOOTW such as peacekeeping, he said.

Justifying this disturbing fact with the lavish military spending begs questions.

Expenditure on big-ticket items should always come with strict monitoring and high accountability. Unfortunately doubtful defence procurement, sometimes reaching scandalous proportions, is said to be a common phenomenon in the Defence Ministry.

In this three-part special report, Malaysiakini attempts to uncover the root causes of suspicious procurements and ways to enhance the current check-and-balance mechanism.

It begins with a list of questionable defence deals in recent years, compiled from media reports. These involved RM26.8 billion and were completed under the watch of Najib Abdul Razak who helmed the Defence Ministry from 2000-2009.

Questions raised about most of the transactions have been left unanswered. Although some were investigated and elements of corruption and mismanagement were found, no senior official has ever been held accountable.

Submarines in global spotlight

The Defence Ministry signed a contract with France's DCNS and Spain's Navantia in 2002 to purchase two Scorpene submarines. The deal is expected to cost RM7.3 billion including maintenance and other services.

What has raised eyebrows is the payment of 114 million euros (RM510 million) to a local company called Perimekar. The sum was alleged to be a commission but the ministry has insisted it was for 'coordination and support services' involving the submarine deal.

Perimekar is wholly owned by another company, KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd, which in turn is controlled by Abdul Razak Baginda, a close confidante of Najib.

The deal turned into a scandal when Abdul Razak was charged with abetting two of Najib's bodyguards in the murder of Mongolian interpreter Altantuya Shaariibuu, who was shot in the head on Oct 19, 2006, and then blown up with C4 explosives available only to the military.

According to testimony revealed in court, Altantuya was apparently blackmailing her then-lover Abdul Razak for US$500,000 for reasons unknown. She accompanied Abdul Razak to Paris when the ministry was negotiating the submarine deal.

The case attracted international attention when judges in the Paris Prosecution Office prompted a preliminary police inquiry after two French lawyers filed the case on behalf of Malaysia's human rights organisation Suaram.

The scandal escalated when private detective P Balasubramaniam, hired by Abdul Razak to protect him from a furious Altantuya, filed a statutory declaration after the trial indicating that Najib had actually been the victim's lover and had passed her on to Abdul Razak.

However he retracted the allegations the next day and went into hiding before taking up residence in India.

He later claimed that he had been offered RM5 million by a businessman close to Najib's wife to retract the allegations and leave the country.

He further alleged that he had met Najib's younger brother Nazim regarding the case.

Balasubramaniam recently met French investigators, and also delivered written replies on July 22 to questions from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission which is investigating his allegations.

In a twist to the sorry tale, the first submarine KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, which arrived in Malaysia last September, could not dive due to technical problems, but repairs left it fully operational in February this year.

Meanwhile, DCNS faces other allegations relating to submarine sales in Taiwan and Pakistan.

Jet engines 'fly' to Uruguay

Two Northrop F-5E jet engines from the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) were found to be missing in May 2008, sparking allegations of the involvement of corrupt officials.

The engines were reportedly taken from a military air base in 2007 and sold on the black market to a South American company. The authority later traced the engines to Uruguay and brought these back in June this year.

Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi initially said the engines cost RM50 million each but later clarified that the correct figure is RM303,570.

The ministry claimed that no senior air force officers were involved in the theft. The same answer was given by Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) after investigations.

Former RMAF sergeant N Tharmendran, 42, has been charged with a company director in relation to the case. They have claimed trial in the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court.

Tharmendran has since revealed that he had been tortured by military intelligence officers into confessing while under detention during an internal probe.

No testing of Eurocopter

In October 2008, two letters from Capt (rtd) Zahar Hashim, chairperson of Mentari Services Sdn Bhd - a local company representing a foreign defence company - alleged that the Defence Ministry had overpaid RM1.419 billion to buy 12 Eurocopter Cougar EC 725 helicopters to replace the armed forces' aging and accident-prone fleet of Nuri choppers.

He claimed that the ministry intended to pay RM2.317 billion for the deal although another company had offered RM898 million for similar choppers.

The letters, written to Najib, outlined several other discrepancies while also accusing him of hastily signing the Letter of Intent dated Sept 15, two days before he moved on to Finance Ministry.

The allegations sparked an uproar and led to the investigation by the PAC, which eventually found 'no procedural abuse' in the tender process.

However, the PAC confirmed that there had been no physical examination of the 12 helicopters prior to purchase.

The ministry finally sealed the deal on March 8 this year at a cost of RM1.542 billion.

Sukhoi jet deal

The Defence Ministry paid RM3.2 billion to buy 18 Sukhoi-20MKM jets from Russian state-owned company Rosboronexport in May 2003. This was to replace 14 US-made F-5Es, which have been in service for two decades.

The deal was made through local agent IMT Defence Sdn Bhd, owned by former Umno minister and Malacca chief minister Mohd Adib Adam.

Controvesy broke in 2005 when Mohamad Zainuri Mohamad Idrus, a former director of IMT Defence, lodged a police report and filed a legal suit against Mohd Adib.

He claimed that Mohd Adib had secretly registered a new company in Labuan with a name similar to IMT Defence, in order to channel the RM380 million in commission from the deal to the new company. No action has been taken against Mohd Adib.

The ministry defended the purchase, saying that Rosboronexport had wanted to make the deal with the aid of a local firm.

Naval patrol boats scandal

The Auditor-General's (AG) Report 2006 tabled in Parliament on Sept 7, 2007 revealed that a contract given to PSC-Naval Dockyard, owned by an Umno associate Amin Shah Omar Shah, to build six naval vessels for the navy had ballooned from RM5.35 billion to RM6.75 billion and was a near failure.

The company was contracted to deliver the patrol boats in 2004 and to complete delivery by April 2008. However only two patrol boats had been delivered by mid-2006, and these could not be fully optimised due to defects.

In all, 298 complaints were lodged on the operation of the vessels. One boat was also found to have 100 incomplete works, while the other had 383.

The report found that the ministry had paid out RM4.26 billion to PSC up to December 2006 although only RM2.87 billion of work had been done, an overpayment of RM1.39 billion.

It said the government had released a big proportion of the RM4.26 billion upon 'confirmation of order' for equipment and systems, rather than upon delivery.

Another shocking revelation was that 14 progress payments amounting to RM943.46 million to the company between December 1999 and January 2002 could not be audited as the payment vouchers and supporting documents were missing from the Defence Ministry's records.

The AG further estimated that the government could claim at least RM214 million in penalties for the late delivery but the cabinet decided to waive payment at the request of the shipyard.

The report noted the abnormally generous payment of RM1.07 billion as deposit, which amounts to 20 percent of the contract price upon signing the agreement.

The AG was also dissatisfied with the quality of monitoring by the project steering committee - led by Najib.

He urged both the finance and defence ministries to give “serious concern” to implementation in order to avoid the weaknesses being repeated in the remaining vessels, and urged that a joint committee comprising both ministries be set up.

The company was later bought over by Boustead Holdings Bhd which revived the project and Amin Shah, once touted as 'Malaysia's Onassis' was declared bankrupt in October 2007.

Poser over RM8 billion APCs

In April this year, DAP Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua accused the Defence Ministry of intending to buy 257 armoured personnel carriers (APC) for a total of RM8 billion - which he claimed was far above the market price.

It was reported that ministry had signed a Letter of Intent worth RM8 billion with Deftech Sdn Bhd for the APCs, during the Defence Service Asia 2010 exhibition in Kuala Lumpur.

However the ministry responded that the decision on the pricing of APCs had not been made. It also defended the planned purchase as a necessity to developing the defence system to international standards.

But the ministry confirmed that a Letter of Intent had been sent to Deftec for thorough study of the APCs to see if these conform to the ministry's standards.

15-year lease of ACMI

In January this year, blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin claimed on his website Malaysia Today that Najib, while he was the defence minister in 2007, had approved the lease of the Aircraft Combat Manoeuvring Instrument from Aerotree Sdn Bhd at a cost of RM21 million per year, for 15 years.

The lease was to provide training for RMAF personnel. Formerly the training was done in Korat, Thailand, at a cost of RM2 million per year. Hence the cost of the lease was alleged to be more than 10 times what the RMAF had been paying.

Raja Petra furnished apparently official documents that indicate Najib had approved the contract based on direct negotiation without open tender. He claimed that the negotiated contract was not conducted according to procedure.

Sub-standard combat uniforms

The 2006 Auditor-General's Report released in September 2007 found that combat uniforms, leather boots and ballistic helmets worth RM101.75 million supplied from 2004-2006 did not meet the army's specifications.

Among others, the report revealed that 5,000 units of ballistic helmets - costing from RM481 to RM484 each - were found to have serious "delamination and trauma effects", but had still been distributed to the army.

The helmets were supplied by Seri Mukali Sdn Bhd which had been given a RM19.83 million contract from 2004-2006.

Other items that failed to meet the specifications were combat uniforms, webbing sets and leather boots.

The report also pointed out that four suppliers, who were late with delivery, were not fined despite a provision for this in the contract.

Police reports against Airod

Three police reports on alleged corruption were lodged in 2005 against Ahmad Johan, president of Airod Sdn Bhd, which held major contracts with the air force.

He was alleged to have set up a company, Quality Ranch, with his son Edron Hayata to siphon RM5.7 million of commission.

The payments were said to for 'consultancy work' involving extensions on two C130 aircraft owned by the air force and contracted out to Airod.

However PKR deputy president Syed Husin Ali, who lodged the report, claimed that the actual consultancy work was carried out by United States-based Lockheed Martin.

He added that the consultancy contract was given to Quality Ranch even though the company did not have any experience in the field of aviation.

Tomorrow: Factors behind questionable procurements

Note: Malaysiakini is interested in hearing from readers with verifiable information on suspect defence procurements. Please email information and your contact details to editor@malaysiakini.com

Ref: 746f6e7963687561

source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/138338

Approved T-shirt?

Datuk Tahrir Shamsuddin,
The below T-shirt ok, a?



If not OK, this one is the best, la. Aiyooo....



========================

Sunday July 25, 2010

Muslims should know what to wear, says mufti

JOHOR BARU: Muslims should know what to wear and what not to, Johor Mufti Datuk Tahrir Shamsuddin said.

He said a Muslim should not put on shirts or jerseys that had images of satan, alcohol and crests of other religions.

He said there was no need for a fatwa on the issue as “Muslims should know their boundaries”.

Tahrir was commenting on the controversy involving the Manchester United jersey, with several prominent Islamic scholars urging Muslims not to don the Premier League club’s jersey because the emblem features a devil.

“If Muslims want to show their support for their favourite teams, they should find a better way instead of wearing such a jersey,” he said.

Perak Mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria had said on Friday that jerseys with devils, crosses or skulls promoted the wrong values for Muslims but that did not mean they should be banned.

Apart from United, who are also known as The Red Devils, other football teams whose crests carry images deemed unIslamic like the cross are Brazil, Portugal, Serbia, Barcelona and Norway.

A Malay daily recently quoted Johor Religious Council adviser Datuk Nooh Gadot as saying that wearing such jerseys were forbidden in Islam.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/7/25/nation/6732587&sec=nation