If Najib and the Defence Minister has nothing to hide....

15 May 2012: Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi insisted that the French courts have no jurisdiction to summon Malaysians to testify in the ongoing inquiry into the Malaysian purchase of French submarines.

“Who are they to issue a warrant of arrest? We are not subjected to French laws,” he said at a press conference after an official visit by the Thai army chief at the Defence Ministry, aired in full by Mob.tv. 

Ahmad Zahid (right) was asked to comment on the statement made by French lawyer Joseph Breham, who is representing human rights NGO Suaram in the civil case on the submarine buys at the French courts.

Breham had said that the presiding judge has the power to issue an international arrest warrant if a subpeona is rejected, including putting out a “red alert” with Interpol.

Ahmad Zahid, who previously said he was willing to testify, later said that neither he or anyone from his ministry will cooperate with the inquiry.

 The next day, Lawyer Joseph Brehem, rebutted Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s statement that the French courts have no jurisdiction over Malaysians.
“French courts have jurisdiction on anyone, being French or not, as soon as they are involved in a matter the courts are inquiring on. To say otherwise is either misleading or erroneous,” Brehem (right in photo) said in a statement issued by Suaram

 If the witness refuses to abide by the subpoena, the court can issue a notice mandat d'amener, compelling the witness to appear before it. If the witness (still) fails to oblige, a warrant of arrest may be issued.

“The warrant of arrest is applicable within the French territory, and may be internationalised if the judge deems it necessary,” said Brehem.

 PM Najib Razak and Zahid should just cooperate if they are subpoenaed by the inquiry to save the country from further embarrassment, especially if they have nothing to hide.

 In fact, Zahid and Najib should voluntarily come forward to clear matters up and uphold truth and justice as exemplary ministers and senior leaders of the country.

Otherwise this will be seen as a clear sign of guilt!

French prosecutors: Najib sought US$1bil for Perimekar

From Malaysiakini

French public prosecutors probing shoddy deals in French-Malaysian arms deals found evidence that then-defence minister Najib Abdul Razak had sought US$1 billion (RM3 billion) for local company Perimekar from French shipmaker DCN's subsidiary DCNI.

According to prosecution papers revealed by NGO Suaram today, a fax shows that Najib had asked for the amount for Perimekar as a condition for a meeting with him on July 14, 2001.

The fax,dated June 1, 2001 was from Francois Dupont, the Malaysian representative for private company Thales Asia International, to one D Arnaud.

The document, one of 153 shown to Suaram, was seized by French police from the office of Henri Gide, an officer with Thales.

However, no copy of the fax was provided to media at the press conference today as Suaram said it is not allowed to take the documents out of France.

Instead, the NGO, which is pursuing a civil complaint against state-owned DCN for allegedly paying 114 million euros in defence kickbacks to Perimekar, provided media with notes from its French interpreter.

According to the notes, Dupont had in the fax detailed out the chronology of visits and future actions during a visit to Malaysia, including details of “negotiation meetings with the Ministry of Defence and the management members of Perimekar”.

“(In the negotiations) two contract proposals would be mentioned (from DCNI to Perimekar as well as between Perimekar and the Malaysian government).

“(Dupont) finally indicated a meeting with Datuk Seri Najib in France on July 14, 2001 with the condition that DCNI offers a maximum sum of US$1 billion for Perimekar’s stay (in France),” it reads.

Malaysia purchased two Scorpene class submarines in 2002.

Perimekar is owned by Najib’s associate Abdul Razak Baginda, who was acquitted on a charge of abetting in the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuuyaa Shariibuu, without his defence being called.

Razak Baginda’s company paid 360,000 euros

According to Suaram, another document obtained by the prosecutors revealed that Terasasi Sdn Bhd, a company owned by Abdul Razak and his father, was also linked to the scandal.

Suaram's interpreter noted that prosecutors had on Aug 22, 2011, obtained an invoice faxed to Terasasi Sdn Bhd on Sept 19, 2004, to the then-chief executive officer of Thales, Bernard Baiocco, for the purpose of “success fees”.

The invoice states that 359,450 euros (RM1.43 million) was to be paid into a bank in Petaling Jaya, while a handwritten note on the fax reads:

“Razak demande si ce SF peut etre pris en compte assez vite. Le Support Fee suit avec un rapport (Razak is asking whether the SF can be paid into the account quite urgently. The support fee follows with a report.)”

However, Suaram director Cynthia Gabriel said the prosecutors were still trying to determine whether the ‘Razak’ stated in the note refers to Najib or Abdul Razak.

‘The Great Malaysian Robbery’

Referring to the case as “the Great Malaysian Robbery”, Gabriel said the prosecutors also found “a slew of companies” had been formed to muddy the money trail.

“More retro-commissions have surfaced, allowing the misuse of bodies such as a pilgrimage fund (Lembaga Tabung Haji) and the military pension fund (Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera).

“The Malaysian and French people have clearly been misled, cheated and robbed of their monies through blatant corruption and mismanagement of funds in the name of national safety and security,” Gabriel (right) said.

As such, Suaram demanded that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission open investigation papers on these new revelations and for the Malaysian government to cooperate with the French inquiry.

It also demands that the Defence Ministry lists out to Parliament the companies involved in the procurement process involving DCN and the commissions paid.

Shocking revelation of Najib now comes with proofs!

By JOHN BERTHELSEN (Editor of Asia Sentinel.)

French investigating magistrates probing the US$1.2 billion (RM3.7 billion) sale of submarines to the Malaysian Defence Ministry are targeting, among other things, a Hong Kong-based company called Terasasi (Hong Kong) Ltd, whose key principal officer is Prime Minister Najib Razak's confidant Abdul Razak Baginda.

Investigators believe that at least some of the 36 million euro (RM144 million) funneled through Terasasi ended up in the pockets of Najib, who was defence minister and deputy prime minister when the two Scorpene submarines were purchased from Thales International or Thint Asia.

The state-owned defence giant DCN, later known as DCNS, and Thales established a joint company named Armaris to manufacture the submarines in 2002.

The two Armaris Scorpenes, named after the first prime minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, and Najib's father, Tun Abdul Razak, are on duty in Malaysian waters.

Razak Baginda, the former head of a Malaysian think-tank who was at the centre of a 2006 investigation into the death of Mongolian translator and party girl Altantuya Shaariibuu, is listed as one of the two directors of the company, which was previously incorporated on June 28, 2002 as Kinabalu Advisory and Support Services Ltd, according to the Hong Kong Companies Registry.

The other director is Razak Baginda's father, Abdul Malim Baginda.

The Terasasi offices are located on the 19th floor of an office at 3 Lockhart Road in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong.

There is no indication in Hong Kong government records of what Terasasi's business is. It is only listed as a "local company." However, French authorities say Terasasi apparently received regular payments from Thint Asia.

One payment was for 360,000 euro (RM1.44 million) accompanied with a handwritten note saying "Razak wants it to be paid quickly."

The magistrates have documents that show that the money was funneled from Thint Asia to Terasasi - 3 million euro (RM12 million) of it when Terasasi was still domiciled in Malaysia, and 33 million euro (RM132 million) after it was incorporated in Hong Kong.

Money may have gone to Umno

There is no indication at this point where the money went. French investigators, however, theorise that it was part of 146 million euro (RM585 million) that may have been funneled to Umno officials and Najib, who traveled with Razak Baginda several times to France as defence minister at the time the Malaysians purchased the submarines from DCNS.

On at least one trip in 2004, Altantuya (right), then Razak Baginda's lover, accompanied him to France as a translator. He later jilted her, impelling her to come to Kuala Lumpur to demand US$500,000 (RM1.5 million) from him.

In a handwritten letter found after her death, she wrote that she was attempting to blackmail him, although she didn't say why. Two of Najib's bodyguards were convicted of shooting her in the head and blowing up her body with plastic explosives in September 2006, possibly to hide the fact that she was pregnant when she was killed.

Because her killing does not appear to be connected to the scandal, French investigators are not looking into the causes of her death or the reasons behind it.

Although Razak Baginda was charged with abetting her murder, he was released without having to put up a defence and left for the UK, where he remains. Najib's former bodyguards remain on death row in Malaysia. Their appeal against the death penalty has been delayed, presumably until after national elections expected in May or June this year.

It was previously revealed on the floor of the Dewan Rakyat, Malaysia's parliament, that Perimekar received 114 million euro (RM457 million) as "support services" on the sale of the vessels.

Perimekar at the time was wholly owned by another company, KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd, which in turn was also controlled by Razak Baginda and his wife, Mazalinda (left). Perimekar is now 20 percent each owned by the military retirement fund LTAT (Malaysian Armed Forces Fund) and Boustead Holdings.

Two years of police investigation at the behest of human rights NGO Suaram into the sale of the submarines culminated recently with the appointment of investigating magistrates Roger Le Loire and Serge Tournaire at the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance, according toAgence France Press, which said the probe involves three contracts for the submarines which were signed on June 5, 2002.

According to the documents, the contracts had two components: the sale of two submarines built by Thint and the Spanish shipbuilding firm Izar, for 920 million euro (RM3.7 billion); and the delivery of "logistical support" from Perimekar Bhd - the 114 million euro (RM457 million) - to train the first 200 Royal Malaysian Navy personnel although there is no indication that the company had the wherewithal to train them.

Unexplained costs

Under the bribery conventions of the 32-member Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the French defence contractors could be liable for criminal sanctions if it is proven that no real services were delivered by the companies. Under French law, violators are liable for up to 10 years in prison.

Joseph Breham (left), a lawyer with Solicitors International Human Rights Group which was engaged by Suaram, said in October last year that DCNS often budgeted as much as 8 to 12 percent of its total receipts as "commissions" to grease sales of armaments in third world countries.

Breham said Perimekar had received the commission for "supporting the contract," which he said was a euphemism for unexplained costs, and also for "housing the crew" of the submarines in France.

In France, before 2002, any money used to bribe foreign officials was tax deductible. When the former finance director of DCN made a claim for 31 million euro (RM124 million) allegedly used to bribe the Malaysians for the purchase of the Scorpenes, Breham said, the budget minister questioned such a large bribe, although he did eventually authorise the tax break.

The contracts cited by AFP included the 114 million euro (RM457 million) one paid by the Malaysian government to Perimekar.

The second, called "C5 contract of engineering business," was concluded in August 2000 between DCNI, a subsidiary of DCN, and Thales International Asia worth some 30 million euro (RM120 million). The third was the "consulting agreement" signed in October 2000 between Thint Asia and Terasasi.

The French investigators are also studying one of the invoices issued by Terasasi in August 2004 for 359,450 euro (RM1.4 million) sent to Thint Asia. For investigators, "it appears that... the amounts paid to Terasasi ultimately benefited Najib, the defence minister, or his adviser Razak Baginda."

Olivier Metzner, a lawyer for Thales, told the French daily Le Parisienthat "we have already demonstrated to investigators that there was no corruption in this case."

However, a confidential memorandum made available to Asia Sentinel and Free Malaysia Today states that: "The beneficiaries of these funds are not difficult to imagine: the family clan and Razak Baginda relations. In addition, these funds will find their way to the dominant political party (Umno)."

What is fair?

Anwar, 64, was charged on Aug 8, 2008 under Section 377B of the Penal Code with committing carnal intercourse against the order of nature. (NOTE: This charge is with consent of the "victim" not force rape)

He was accused and acquitted by the High Court of sodomising Mohd Saiful

Is it fair that Saiful, a 20+ man that is 6feet tall get an appeal at the cost of the the reputation and funds of the Malaysian Government, just so that he can defend his dignity?

WELL HE GOT HIS APPEAL!

How about Abdul Razak Baginda? A close friend of Najib who was charge and also acquitted with the murder (blowing up with military gred C4 explosive) of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a pregnant Mongolian women!

Did her family see justice and get an appeal?

NO WAY!

Deputy public prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah, who is leading the prosecution, said in a statement today that there would be no appeal because the trial judge had made a finding of fact in acquitting Abdul Razak.

Anwar's acquittal was also on point of fact! So why is there an appeal!

The answer is here!

Why do you fear a guy that looks like Mr Bean?!?

PETALING JAYA: Prominent French human rights lawyer William Bourdon will be deported tonight after being detained for more than four hours by immigration and police officials at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

Bourdon has been served the deportation order and he will be leaving Kuala Lumpur at 11.30pm along with his wife Lea Forestier to Paris.

Bourdon, in a brief statement, said that the Malaysian police had ordered him to leave the country as soon as possible.

He said when he explained that his return ticket to Paris was only on Sunday, he was told that he would be detained until then.

“We have decided to find the earliest return flight possible at our own costs. I don’t understand this decision as no explanation has been given to me so far,” he added in his hand-written note (photo, below).

“I hereby declare that I have acted as the lawyer for Suaram in full respect of my duties and rules and in perfect compliance with national and international laws.

“I consider that this deportation decision is a breach in the right to freely exercise my profession as a lawyer,” he said.

Bourdon had arrived here from Penang, where he spoke at an event organised by rights group Suaram regarding the controversial Scorpene submarine deal. He was scheduled to give another speech tonight in Petaling Jaya on the submarine scandal, followed by another in Ipoh tomorrow.

But when his Malaysia Airlines flight landed at 11.40am, three immigration officials came on board to escort him off the aircraft. Bourdon was taken to the holding centre where he was questioned for four hours.

Suaram executive director, Cynthia Gabriel, who is at the KLIA, told FMT that she managed to speak to Bourdon and that he was being held in the Immigration Enforcement Division.

“The officials asked him to sign deportation papers in Bahasa Malaysia and of course he refused,” she said. “The French Embassy officials are currently in negotiations with the immigration officials. But the Bourdons are definitely going back to France tonight.”

Meanwhile Fadiah Nadwa Fikri from Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) said that Forestier was released earlier and that she was on her way to the division where Bourdon is being held.

“He has been denied access to lawyers which is ridiculously absurd. And none of the officials have issued any statement on the grounds for his detention.”

According to Fadiah, Forestier was “very shocked and upset over the arbitrariness of situation.”

“Only other experience of William and I denied entry was Tunisia under BenAli… there was a banana republic!,” Forestier was reported to have said, according to tweets from local activists.

The authorities also failed to acknowledge the fact that Bourdon was Suaram’s lawyer on the submarine case and that his deporation would be a breach of his right to perform his duty as a lawyer.

Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah, and Batu MP Tian Chua, are also at KLIA but their attempts to meet with Bourdon have been denied.

The submarine deal

In June 2002, the Malaysian government signed an agreement with French DCNS and Spainish Navantia for the procurement of two Scorpene class submarines.

The procurement contract was through direct negotiation with the manufacturing companies, said to be with the service of Perimekar Sdn Bhd, linked to academic Abdul Razak Baginda.

The Scorpene issue had been mired in controversy with allegations of kickbacks and linked to the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Razak, a close aide of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, was charged with abetting the murder but was later acquitted.

The controversy had even forced Najib to swear on the Quran to clear his name.

The French authorities are currently probing the deal.

In December 2009, Suaram filed a complaint with the French courts asking for access to information regarding government contracts signed with Perimekar and other information classified as official secrets in Malaysia.

In April 2010, the French courts accepted the request to investigate the claim of corruption for a payment amounting to 114 million euros from DCNS to Perimekar.

It is believe that with his deportation, Bourdon will not be available to be a key speaker for Suaram fund-raising dinner in KL tonight.

Who's work is this!? Immigration?!? On what grounds?!? Innocent people have nothing to fear or hide! So who is scared of this French lawyer? Only the guilty!!! Only the guilty!

For more reading check out this page!

Interesting Govt's Spending Part 2

From Malaysiakini

COMMENT Defence spending accelerated across the board after Prime Minister Najib Razak, called “the driving force” behind Malaysia's military modernisation programme by Foreign Policy in Focus, became defence chief in 2000 - his second tenure in the ministry.

His shopping list included battle tanks from Poland, Russian and British surface-to-air missiles and mobile military bridges, and Pakistani anti-tank missiles, F/A 18 jet fighters, submarines from France and Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter aircrafts.
The BN government has been far from transparent in its arms purchases. Instead of calling for competitive bidding on defence contracts, the government has insisted that its military procurement be conducted through private negotiations because of security considerations.

Very often, contracts are given to companies which have links to political leaders. Approving officers, for obvious reasons, then approve projects forwarded by relatives or friends of political leaders.

Once in a while, compromises in the Malaysian armed forces are revealed by retiring civil and armed service personnel. For example, on Aug 8, 1996, on the eve of his optional retirement from the Air Force, RMAF Chief Lt Jen Abdul Ghani Aziz took to task ex-RMAF officers-turned-defence-equipment-suppliers for selling unsuitable and obsolete equipment, and thus compromising the safety of their former colleagues.

The account of how DCNS International of France and the Spanish shipmaker won the contract to build two Scorpene-class submarines for the Malaysian Navy is an example of the non-transparent manner in which defence contracts are awarded and the importance of political connections in gaining these contracts.

The following are some of the sleaze involved in Malaysia's military procurement:

The 'arms for aid' scandal

The 'Arms for Trade' scandal involving the funding of the Pergau hydroelectric dam in Malaysia, revolved around the linking of arms sales (worth RM5 billion) to British overseas aid in the form of Aid-and-Trade Provision (ATP) funding.

The linkage came to light when a senior civil servant in the British Overseas Development Administration (ODA), Tim Lankester, objected to the funding of the un-economical and environmentally damaging dam in 1991 but his objections were over-ruled by the then foreign secretary, Douglas Hurd.

The investigations by the British press into the reasons for the UK government's proceeding with the funding of the dam project in Kelantan centred on the linkage of the two deals, which was against stated government policy.

The scandal highlighted the links between arms transfers and aid provision in the Conservative government's record. It was stated British government policy that there could be no such linkage. This government policy was based on the 1966 Overseas Aid Act.

Allegations of corruption were levelled at the Malaysian government, specifically in theSunday Times.

It provoked a backlash by Mahathir Mohamad's government which announced a 'Buy British Last' policy in 1994.

Soon after, the editor of theSunday Times at the time, Andrew Neil lost his job as editor because of the political impact of the investigations of Pergau.

While the mainstream press in Malaysia published hardly anything on the 'Arms for Aid' scandal which had erupted in Britain in 1994, the British press had a field day which subsequently led to Mahathir's second trade boycott against Britain.

Grisly murder of Altantuya

It took the brutal murder of a Mongolian national, Altantuya Shaaribuu in 2006 to shock the nation and for questions surrounding the purchase of two Scorpene submarines to be asked in this country and in France. Altantuya, a Mongolian translator, was shot in the head on Oct 19, 2006, and then blown up with C4 explosives which are available only from Malaysia's military.

According to testimony in the trial, Altantuya accompanied her then-lover Abdul Razak Baginda to Paris at a time when Malaysia's Defence Ministry was negotiating through a Kuala Lumpur-based company, Perimekar Sdn Bhd, to buy two Scorpene submarines and a used Agosta submarine produced by the French government under a French-Spanish joint venture, Armaris.

Perimekar at the time was owned by a company called Ombak Laut, which was wholly owned by Abdul Razak, who is a close associate of then defence minister Najib. The contract was not competitive.

The Malaysian Defence Ministry paid 1 billion euros (RM4.5 billion) to Amaris for the three submarines, for which Perimekar received a payment of 114 million euros (RM510 million). The total cost of the submarines purchase after including infrastructure, maintenance, weapons, etc, has since risen beyond RM7 billion.

Deputy Defence Minister Zainal Abdidin Zin told the Parliament that the money was paid to Perimekar for “coordination and support services” although the fee amounted to a whopping 11 percent of the sales price for the submarines.

Altantuya, by her own admission in the last letter she wrote before her murder, said she had been blackmailing Abdul Razak, pressuring him for US$500,000. She did not say how she was blackmailing him, leaving open lots of questions.

While two former bodyguards of the then deputy prime minister and defence minister were subsequently found guilty of her grisly murder, it raised suspicion of an official cover-up since their motives were never divulged to the public nor probed in court.

Altantuya had had a relationship with Abdul Razak Baginda, a defence analyst from the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre think-tank, which has close ties to Najib. She had worked as Abdul Razak's translator on a deal to purchase Scorpene submarines from France.

In October 2006, the French newspaper Liberation claimed that Altantuya was informed that the commission paid by Armaris, the French-Spanish consortium involved in Malaysia's acquisition of the submarines of one billion euros (RM4.7 billion), had been deposited in a bank account in Malaysia.

The commission of 114 million euros was allegedly paid into the account of Perimekar, a company that Razak Baginda controlled and Altantuya had flown to Kuala Lumpur with her cousin to demand her share of the commission, which was to have been US$500,000.

Altantuya was reported missing on Oct 19, 2006 by her cousin who lodged a police report and sought help from the Mongolian embassy in Bangkok. She was later discovered murdered and her remains were found in a forested area in Shah Alam.

Two jet engines stolen

Experts say that Malaysia's Air Force suffers from too many aircraft types and aircrafts that fail to keep up with recent purchases by its neighbours. The recent case of the missing jet engines was by no means exceptional when seen in the light of these scandals.

Two F-5E fighter aircraft engines costing RM50 million from the Royal Malaysian Air Force went missing in May 2008 and a police report was lodged in August that year. It was only towards the end of 2009 that the theft of two jet engines was reported in the media.

The possible reason the government did not disclose the loss in 2007 was because the general elections was nearing. Had they done so, the opposition would have had a gala time ridiculing the government.

According to Najib, there was no cover-up on the theft of the jet engines. The jet engines went missing when he was the defence minister in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's cabinet. It was reported that a brigadier-general and 40 other armed forces personnel had been sacked over the incident.

They were not charged. There was no court martial. It appears the general and several others lost their pension but upon appeal they got it back.

The thefts and subsequent sale of the parts would have affected national security and also have international implications. The United States, which sold the hardware to the RMAF, would surely want to know who the buyers were. Indeed, there is a good possibility that investigations will go international.

N Tharmendran (photo), one of the accused, has since emerged to accuse the RMAF of torture and persecution.

The above is an excerpt from 'Questioning Arms Spending in Malaysia: From Altantuya to Zikorsky', a new book by KUA KIA SOONG. The author is a former MP, college principal and a human rights activist. 'Questioning Arms Spending in Malaysia' is available at all major bookstores.

An interesting look at the govt's expenditure.

COMMENT Early this year, the BN government tried to raise RM1 billion through a new Goods and Services tax which would further burden the poor. By mid-2010, the government decided to postpone the implementation of the tax. It nevertheless succeeded in withdrawing subsidies on food, oil, and a few other daily essentials, saving the government a grand total of RM700 million.

While this controversy was fomenting quite a bit of heat in the Malaysian media, the Defence Ministry announced on April 19 that more than RM10.4 billion in defence contracts would be signed during that weekend's 'Defence Fair' to modernise the military and security sectors in line with the Ninth Malaysia Plan:

“The government has allocated RM21 billion, or 10.6 percent, of the development expenditure under the Ninth Malaysia Plan for this purpose,” said Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Zahid said the deals would be for acquiring armoured vehicles, multi-role support ships, combat aircraft and next-generation patrol vessels. As in all previous military purchases under the government, such huge spending by the Defence Ministry was passed through Parliament without too much debate.

The grisly murder of a Mongolian woman, Altantuya Shaaribuu has created greater awareness among Malaysians about the lack of transparency in arms procurement. Apart from the Scorpene submarine deal, there have recently been cases of unaccounted negligence - the theft of two F-5E jet engines from an RMAF base and the loss through sheer negligence of an entire ship, the KD Sri Inderapura due to an onboard fire.

What RM1 billion can buy

However poor developing countries may be, their ruling classes never fail to justify defence budgets that are grossly disproportionate to their means. Most of us do not realise the proportion of the country's wealth being spent on arms and the commissions being paid for such questionable purchases.

Compare that with the gross shortage of schools and hospitals, public transport and other social services that so many Malaysians face, and the obscenity of it all can be clearly seen.

As we examine one arms scandal after another, try totalling the amount of taxpayers' money that has been spent on each purchase. At the end of this book, you will discover how much it all amounts to and how many schools, hospitals, houses and trains we could have built since Independence in 1957.

For example, RM1 billion worth of arms is equivalent to building at least 100 hospitals or 1,000 new schools or 10,000 new houses.

Do you know that since Independence in 1957 – after more than 50 years - there has not been a single new Chinese or Tamil primary school built? In fact we had more Chinese and Tamil primary schools then (1,350 and 880 respectively) compared to the present (1,285 and 550 schools respectively). And the population at Independence was only half what it is today.

But in one weekend alone in April 2010, the government could justify spending RM10 billion on arms at the Kuala Lumpur Defence Fair. With that money, we could have built 1,000 hospitals or 10,000 schools or 100,000 houses!

The spending spree continues unabated - the Tenth Malaysia Plan (2011-15) has allocated RM23 billion for defence and security.

Recent splurge on arms

In Malaysia, although the last war against Indonesian 'Confrontation' was over more than 40 years ago, the government has continued to made available ample funds for the defence minister to purchase state-of-the-art defence equipment.

“Military modernisation” has become a new catchword for the Defence Ministry to justify defence budgets out of all proportion to the national budget.

Up to now, there has been a lack of public outcry over the size of the defence budget in Malaysia. And while Pakatan Rakyat never fails to expose corruption and non-transparency in arms purchases, their alternative defence policy is not evident. Nor has the mainstream press played a responsible role as the watchdog for the Malaysian people on these arms purchases and scandals.

Furthermore, they have treated 'Defence Fairs' which peddle weapons of war in the same way they treat other tourist attractions of Malaysia – children and youth are introduced to weapons of war as if they are toys for play and objects of desire. Drugs and porn are condemned, but weapons of war are portrayed as manly and desirable! Our ministers never seem to tire in posing with the latest jet fighter or other weapon of death at these defence fairs.

The whole basis of the arms industry is pure and simple profit. The arms merchants and their partners may go religiously to their churches, mosques or temples every week but they have little concern for morality or human rights. There are by now, many vested interests in the arms trade.

According to Robert Karniol, based on the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) Report 2009, the arms race in Southeast Asia looks irrational when seen in the context of East Asia as a whole:

“Southeast Asia has seen deliveries of major conventional defence equipment nearly double over the past five years, as compared with the period 2000-2004... Malaysia led the regional pack with a surge of 722 percent during the 2005-2009 period, while Singapore was up by 146 percent and Indonesia by 84 percent.

“Looking at the actors in East Asia security complex, defence expenditures of China, S Korea and Japan, each of their respective aircraft procurement budgets would dwarf that of all of Southeast Asia combined.

“Look at the South Asia security complex, against some big numbers for India. What is the impact of Malaysia's 1 squadron purchase in comparison to India's current order of Su-30s (or for that matter China's building plan for the J-10)?

“Given the disparity in defence budgets, Asean countries cannot be said to engage in an arms race against regional powers like India or China. It would not be a race.”

Malaysia's military-industrial complex

Thus, what is the purpose of this entire splurge on arms by the BN government? Does it make sense in the light of the regional status quo and the state of our economic development?

How is Malaysia's defence budget being spent? Malaysia already has eight US-made F/A-18D jet fighters. Six Russian MiG-29s have been retired but another 10 aircraft will continue to be maintained by Aerospace Technology System in Malaysia for several years.

Yet Malaysia is seeking for more fighters enough for one to two squadrons. As well as the Russian Sukhoi Su-30s, other fighters Malaysia is considering include the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Lockheed Martin F-16 and Saab Gripen.

Many are not aware of the rapid growth of Malaysia's domestic military-industrial complex. The top brass of the military guard their power and privilege and this is nourished by easy access to the defence budget and the simple justification of “national security”.

Today we have seen the growth of such a complex in many countries, including Malaysia. An offshoot of the arms purchases is the race to develop domestic defence equipment industries in each of the Southeast Asian countries. In 1993, aerospace became a new strategic sub-sector of Malaysia's manufacturing sector. This sector is both capital intensive and involves high technology.

With the burgeoning of a domestic military economy, we see class interest developing between the ruling elite and the top brass of the military. As it happens, there is now an extensive military automotive complex in Prime Minister Najib Razak's electoral constituency of Pekan with its layers of contractors, sub-contractors, servicemen and other gainfully employed.

We also find many retired generals and other officers of the armed forces in the directorships of many, if not most, of these local aerospace companies. This brings into focus questionable practices in the Malaysian civil and military services when we see top military and civil servants retiring into directorships of utility and arms companies.

Most military contracts come with purchase agreements involving local spin-offs. For example, Malaysia's Airod has an agreement for aircraft maintenance with the US Lockheed Corporation and is trying to gain a foothold in the regional aircraft upgrading market, estimated to be worth US$1 billion yearly.

British Aerospace's sale of 28 Hawk ground attack aircrafts to Malaysia in the early 1990s came with an offset package including the manufacture of air-frame components, cannon, ammunition and tyres in Malaysia. These products would not only be fitted to the Hawks sold to the RMAF but could also be exported to other countries using the same aircraft.

Bumiputera companies have made a mark in the local aerospace industry and the Directory of Malaysian Defence Industry Companies 2000 published by the Malaysian Industries Defence Council already listed 18 aerospace companies.

Thus while most businesses are subject to market forces, defence enjoys a great deal of 'featherbedding' – contracts are awarded without competition and the sector has its own government-blessed 'aerospace' industrial policy.

Thus, the significance of this domestic military-industrial complex to the composition of the ruling class, class relations, patronage, employment and the outcome of elections cannot be underestimated.

TAKEN FROM MALAYSIAKINI!
Part 2: Tomorrow

The above is an excerpt from 'Questioning Arms Spending in Malaysia: From Altantuya to Zikorsky' a new book by KUA KIA SOONG. The author is a former MP, college principal and a human rights activist. 'From Altantuya to Zikorsky' is available at all major bookstores.

P.I. Bala Mocks Malaysia's AG Gani Patail

Former private investigator P Balasubramaniam is making a mockery of our Malaysian government and our AG for closing the case of his double statutory declarations.

After months of investigations on the part of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Attorney-General's chambers, Minister in Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz announced in Parliament on Wednesday that the case was closed.

In an open letter to attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, Balasubramaniam said that he was “surprised” that despite having conceded to signing a false statutory declaration, the police could not find evidence of any wrongdoing.

“The police, I believe, have investigated the circumstances surrounding the making of these two statutory declarations under section 199 of the Penal Code, for an offence which carries a sentence of three years' imprisonment and a fine. This is not a trivial offence.

“It has therefore come as a great surprise to me to discover that you have been unable to decipher any wrongdoing from the enormous amount of evidence the police must have been able to accumulate from their investigations,” he said.

Insisting that his second statutory declaration was false, he urged the authorities to reopen the case.

“The first one was entirely truthful. The second one was a complete pack of lies. I admit this,” he said.

He also challenged the attorney-general to charge him for making a false statement in the second statutory declaration.

“I do however reserve the right to plead not guilty to the charge as I believe I have a very good defence,” said Balasubramaniam.

“I will be more than happy to return to Malaysia to defend myself but you will have to ensure that my safety is guaranteed as there are some people who would prefer that I was not around,” he said.

Private eye hired by Razak Baginda
Balasubramaniam - better known as PI Bala - became a household name when it was revealed at the murder trial of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu that he was the private investigator hired by one of the accused, former political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda (below).

In the bodyguard's cautioned statement, it emerged that Altantuya, almost with her last words, told her two assailants that she was pregnant and begged them not to kill her. That has led to speculation that her body was blown up with C4 explosives to hide any DNA evidence of who the father might be.

PI Bala's open letter to AG Gani Patail

Dear Tan Sri (Abdul Gani Patail), (from Malaysiakini)

My name is Balasubramaniam Perumal. I think you may have heard of me.

I was Abdul Razak Baginda's private investigator hired by him to protect him from his ex-girlfriend, Altantuya Shaaribu (deceased), sometime in 2006.

Remember you charged him for her murder but he got off. Instead, two of the prime minister's bodyguards got convicted. Stranger things have happened, I am sure you would agree.

But I digress. Let me come to the point.

I have been made to understand that you have decided to close the case involving two statutory declarations I signed sometime at the beginning of July 2008 in Kuala Lumpur.

The contents of these statutory declarations were diametrically opposed. Both could not have been true and therefore one of them was false. I trust that makes sense to you.

The police, I believe, have investigated the circumstances surrounding the making of these two statutory declarations under section 199 of the Penal Code, for an offence which carries a sentence of three years' imprisonment and a fine. This is not a trivial offence.

The police must have interviewed my lawyer, Americk Sidhu, his secretary, the commissioner of oaths who attested my signature and a variety of other witnesses you have mentioned who were somehow intrinsically interwoven in the construction and affirmation of both statutory declarations, one way or another.

It has therefore come as a great surprise to me to discover that you have been unable to decipher any wrongdoing from the enormous amount of evidence the police must have been able to accumulate from their investigations.

Please permit me to assist you. Firstly, may I suggest that you re-open this file immediately. I will make it easy for you.

Let me admit to you that I did sign a false statutory declaration. Yes, I did. I signed a false statutory declaration. It was the second one, not the first one. The first one was entirely truthful. The second one was a complete pack of lies. I admit this.

This statutory declaration was prepared by some unknown person(s) and I was forced by very thinly veiled threats and intimidation to sign it. I have already made this known to the world at large and I am surprised your office has not picked this up as yet. Everyone else has.

If you are unable to ascertain this information which I have just provided to you directly, please feel free to contact me at this email address bala.p.i@hotmail.com and I shall forward to you a copy of the video recorded interview I had in the presence of my lawyers in Singapore last November, and a copy of the transcript thereof.

Otherwise you can find this information on all the blogs worth reading (such as Raja Petra Kamarudin's Malaysia Today) and also on 'YouTube' (just type in 'PI Bala' into the search column and you will be surprised what comes up).

So you may now consider charging me for making the false second statutory declaration after the clues I have given you. I do however reserve the right to plead not guilty to the charge as I believe I have a very good defence.

Your prosecutors will also have to make sure they call all the necessary witnesses to prove their case against me. These witnesses will have to include the following personalities:

i) A lawyer named Arunampalam Mariam Pillai (who coincidentally does legal work for Deepak Jayakishan and Rosmah Mansor's personal companies).

ii) A commissioner of oaths (Zainal Abidin Muhayat) who works in the office of Zul Rafique and Partners (Advocates & Solicitors) and who attested my signature when he came to the room in which I was being held at the Hilton Hotel Kuala Lumpur.

iii) Deepak and Dinesh Jaikishan (very good friends and confidantes of Rosmah Mansor).

iv) Nazim Razak (younger brother of the prime minister), and his wife.

v) ASP Suresh (a suspended police officer formerly attached to the IPK headquarters in KL).

vi) Officers from the Immigration Department Damansara (who assisted in obtaining urgent passports for my family).

vii) A host of journalists and reporters who were present in the lobby of the Prince Hotel Kuala Lumpur when a lawyer called Arunampalam released my second statutory declaration without my permission.

These are just some of the witnesses I can think of but I am sure you know how to do your job so that should be not a problem. I don't want to be accused of trying to teach an old dog new tricks.

If for some strange reason my defence is called, I will also be able to provide witnesses to support what I have to say. I need not disclose who these witnesses are at this stage and I am sure you know that as well.

I shall now wait for the charge against me to be laid.

I will be more than happy to return to Malaysia to defend myself but you will have to ensure that my safety is guaranteed as there are some people who would prefer that I was not around.

Bala! Another case with No Further Action Taken!

There will be no further investigations on private investigator P. Balasubramaniam’s conflicting statutory declarations (SDs) as the case is now closed, according to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

Defacto Law Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, in a written reply in Parliament, said that the A-G’s Chambers’ decision to close the case was because Balasubramaniam’s conflicting SDs did not affect the high-profile trial of murdered Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu. (That is the most lame reason I have ever heard!)

Under Section 199 of the Penal Code for providing “false statements.”, offenders are liable to a maximum jail term of three years and a fine.

“Although there are contradictions between the two SDS, the contradictions do not affect the outcome of the trial of Altantuya. Moreover, the individual (Balasubramaniam) is still believed to be abroad,” said Nazri.

The investigations against Balasubramaniam took place after he retracted a statutory declaration in July 2008, which implicated Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak and wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor in the murder of Altantuya.

Balasubramaniam, a private investigator hired by Abdul Razak Baginda, who was also Altantuya’s lover, has made many controversial allegations including linking Najib to Altantuya’s murder.

According to Bala’s lawyer Americk Sidhu, the Attorney-General's decision to close the file was aimed at halting embarrassing information from surfacing to implicate Nizam, Rosmah’s business associate Deepak Jaikishan and his brother and a police officer named Inspector Suresh.

This group is believed to have acted with the motive of trying to protect Najib, then the deputy prime minister, and destroy the credibility of the information contained in a previous statutory declaration.

“The A-G can't afford to investigate further as a whole can of worms would be opened up. That is the reason why he AG closed the file,” Americk told Malaysia Chronicle.

“Nothing is going to happen to the culprits because they are all sitting on the correct divide of the political fence. I don't think it is a good outcome. It is another attempt at sweeping stuff under the carpet again. This is something they are experts at.”

Powerful hands behind her killing

The murder of the beautiful 28-year old Altantuya, whom Bala had revealed in his first statutory declaration was Najib’s mistress before he passed her on to his close associate Razak Baginda, has gripped Malaysians for years now.

She was killed in a remote jungle clearing in Selangor in 2006 in a most horrific way. Despite telling her killers she was pregnant, two of Najib’s former bodyguards shot her in the head and blew her body with C4 explosives to prevent identification.

Months after the discovery of her body, rumors began circulating of powerful hands behind her killing. Altantuya, who speaks four languages including Russian and French, had played a role in helping Razak Baginda close a multi-billion ringgit submarines purchase for Najib, who was then the Defense minister.

Bala had been hired by Razak Baginda to stop Altantuya from harassing him for what she had said was her share of the submarines commission paid by French vendor DCNS. It amounted to US$500,000 while Baginda’s firm was allegedly benefitted with a 214 million euros side-deal.

In 2008, after harassment over his police statement which had contained some of these details, Bala decided to blow the whistle. With the help of his lawyers, he made a statutory declaration detailing all the information that had come to his hand while working for Baginda.

For more details!