Source: The Malaysian Insider
Khairy: Yes to transparency, but not for arms buys
By Shannon Teoh
July 30, 2011
Bourdon’s deportation has thrown the spotlight back onMalaysia’s arms purchase methods. — Reuters pic
KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 — Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has declared support for a Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, but stressed last night that several areas needed to be excluded in the interest of national security, such as defence procurements.
He pointed out that “no country will disclose specifications” of their military hardware due to security concerns.
“The exact specs of tanks, what kind of systems and missiles we use shouldn’t be discussed in Parliament and recorded down on the Hansard,” the Rembau MP said at a forum on FOI at the Bar Council last night.
The issue of defence deals cropped up again after authorities deported a French lawyer who has been pursuing judicial investigations intoMalaysia’s controversial RM7 billion Scorpene submarine purchase in the French courts, the day after he spoke on the issue inPenang.
In his absence, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MPs had accused the Najib administration of wanting to keep the facts hidden in the purchase of the submarines from French defence firm DCNS and up to RM16 billion in defence deals over the past three years.
However, Khairy, along with DAP lawmaker Charles Santiago, mooted an Armed Services committee instead be formed by lawmakers and the armed forces to hear representations from field experts before discussing policy in secret.
When asked if this would still mean that decision-making was shrouded in secrecy, he said that “some disclosure is better than none and at least MPs, representatives of the people, will have the information.”
The purchase of two submarines from French defence company DCNS in 2002 was made when Datuk Seri Najib Razak was still defence minister and a company run by Abdul Razak Baginda, said to be a close aide of the then-deputy prime minister, was reported to have received commissions of over RM500 million from the deal.
Human rights groups and opposition parties here also linked the episode to the 2006 murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.
In December 2009, Suaram filed a complaint with the French courts asking for access to information regarding government contracts signed with Abdul Razak’s Perimekar Sdn Bhd and other information classified as official secrets inMalaysia.
The French courts accepted the request to investigate claims of graft in the RM500 million payment from DCNS to Perimekar.
French lawyer William Bourdon had arrived inKuala Lumpuron July 23 fromPenang, where he spoke at a fundraiser organised by rights group Suaram regarding the Scorpene submarine deal but was prevented from speaking at further events when immigration officers boarded his plane and detained him before deporting him the same night.
Klang MP Santiago had said thatMalaysiashould go further than simply forming a committee to scrutinise defence procurement as defence journals and publications “already tells you who’s buying what for how much.”
“If you buy a missile for so much, experts can tell you why. So there is nothing to hide. If you search on Google, you can find out what the Malaysian government has.
“Procurement policies should be made clearer. This culture of secrecy must come to an end”, he said.
今早国会下议院，巴生区国会议员查尔斯圣地亚哥（Charles Santiago）提问：“政府是否打算如‘政府改革计划’第七项提及的，制定‘资讯权利法令’以确保人民的利益及赢回民心？”
查尔斯圣地亚哥（左图）回应道，刚推出的“新经济模 式”（NEM）已经为制定此法令打下了基础，并指出“新经济模式”倡议要提高政府运作的透明度及责任感，以打击朋党及贪污风气。
Charles Santiago 
