KUALA LUMPUR: The third Kedah-class PV, KD Perak was launched at the Lumut Naval base today. It was launched by Tuanku Bainun (see the story below). It is the third vessel of the problematic PV project.

Interestingly, Malaysian Defence poll last month, readers overwhelmingly voted for the continuance of the project despite the very condemning report by the Auditor General

I have no idea whether the problems detailed by the AG have been fixed or whether the the other Kedah-class PVs being built by Boustead are going to be completed. We have to wait for Lima for the update (just three weeks away!).

Nonetheless, it will be difficult for us to claim damages from the original contractor, Tan Sri Amin Shah, as he is overseas 99 per cent of the time. Furthermore, he was declared a bankrupt by Affin Bank, of which belonged to the same group that has overall control over Boustead, the new owner of the dockyard.

With the new development, the whole affair is an absolute mess, and Amin Shah may well escape further claims against him (my opinion, not I do not have a law degree) as he may able to show mala fide (bad faith) on the part of Boustead (for forcing him to give them the PV contract, his sole breadwinner leading him to bankruptcy).

Anyway, the RMN webmaster have yet to fix the error in their armada list which conveniently left out the PV sqdn which led me to come out with the scary Kedah class decommissioned?. story

The webmaster replied that it was an error and had promised to fix it. This was in October. Until now they have yet to fix it.

From the RMN website:

Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Sultan Perak telah berkenan menitahkan Upacara Penamaan dan Pelancaran Kapal Ronda Ketiga pada 12 November 2007 di Pangkalan TLDM Lumut, Perak. Upacara ini telah disempurnakan oleh Duli Yang Maha Mulia Raja Permaisuri Perak Tuanku Bainum binti Mohd Ali.

Upacara ini juga dihadiri oleh DYAM Raja Dihilir Perak dan DYAM Raja Puan Muda Perak; DYTM Raja Muda Perak dan DYTM Raja Puan Besar; Timbalan Perdana Menteri Malaysia merangkap Menteri Pertahanan dan Isteri; Panglima Angkatan Tentera Malaysia dan Isteri; Panglima Tentera Laut dan Isteri serta Panglima-Panglima Perkhidmatan. Kapal Ronda Ketiga TLDM ini telah ditauliahkan sebagai Kapal Diraja (KD) PERAK dengan No. Pennant 173, dalam kelas Patrol Vessel (PV).

–Malaysian Defence