DYMM Sultan Johor sudah bertitah, Menteri Pertahanan mesti jawab

Recently the DYMM Sultan of Johor who is also the Colonel-In-Chief of the Grup Gerak Khas (Special Service Group) delivered a stinging criticism at the Ministry of Defence on the purchase of military equipment for the Special forces, as reported by The Star:

Picture taken from TheStar

"In his speech at the Special Forces anniversary day celebrations at Kem Iskandar here yesterday, the Sultan also reminded arms suppliers, including retired army personnel and generals, not to raise the prices of equipment supplied to the armed forces.

He said that arms suppliers should ensure the quality of the equipment supplied.

“There have been cases of army personnel, including generals, who become businessmen after retiring. I hope they supply equipment which meet the standards and specifications as I value the life of our soldiers, especially special forces personnel,” he said.

He also urged the Defence Ministry to control and scrutinise all purchases.

“Nobody should take advantage of the situation for personal gains when acquiring equipment for the Special Forces,” he said, adding that recently four Rapid Intervention Vehicles (RIV) were purchased for RM2.76mil or RM690,000 each.

During the event, Sultan Ibrahim displayed one of the RIV vehicles and another personal vehicle that he purchased for RM150,000.

“Which of these will be your choice? I do not understand why government purchases involve exorbitant charges that do not make sense,” Sultan Ibrahim, who is also a Colonel in the Special Forces, said."

Read in full here.

I trust the Minister of Defence would act accordingly,  the quality of military equipment is a matter of life or death for our Soldiers and the difference in price for the RIV is a mind boggling RM540,000. The DYMM Sultan of Johor  have had Special Forces military training in America during his younger days and is Commander of the Johor Military Force (JMF) and Tuanku sure knows what he is talking about and he indeed owned a similar RIV. 

So please Dato' Menteri Pertahanan do not give the standard answer that the matter will be investigated and that the price difference could be due to different specs. We want to know too. Thank You.