New Home and Defence Ministers, Muhyiddin Cabinet

22 Comments

1. not sure its bad news or good news….we get better menhan than mat sabu although we lose good deputy liew chin tong….

   but this just early forecast…who know whats up ahead of us.hope this new minister think before talk or move compare than the old one and have more brave to support the armed force intention for securing our nation.

   with minister already chosen,govt better start planning for kuwait hornet fast so we dont lose it.

2. @zack
   I’d rather have a competent minister than a good deputy minister. An effective management needs good frontliners not backbenchers, as my boss always says.

3. Zack – “with minister already chosen,govt better start planning for kuwait hornet fast so we dont lose it.””

   Wishful thinking. Even if the new Minister was personally enamoured of the idea; he would still have to convince the PM and the cabinet; as we know defence is not on the list of immediate priorities.

   Ultimately it doesn’t really matter who’s in charge of MINDEF but in us completely revamping our whole outlook on defence. I don’t expect a new minister to be able to significantly affect procurement but I do hope he can prioritise things and make certain changes; especially with our system of going through vendors; to the detriment of the MAF (the Little Bird fiasco being a recent example).

   For me; I’d be happy if plans with the LCA, MPAs and UASs can process as planned without delay and without someone deciding to change priorities. We lack many things; continuity being one of them.

4. In my opinion Mat sabu As a defence minister wasn’t bad he simply didn’t interfere or meddle in any ongoing projects in the mindef I mean like masukkan org dia ke or cronyism so it’s good that which allows the army to operate properly without being dictated by politikus not sure we are gonna get the same results with this wolf in a sheep’s skin gov’t…

5. joe- the last time it was liew chin tong that move the mindef from what i heard…mat sabu only spokesperson. liew chin tong may look backbenchers but he is front ahead to carry many mindef agenda. he maybe a deputy but he have done more than enough.

   Azlan-that is how politician work. buying voter so they can have next term and defense is at back as always.not expect thing to become all good..but at least give more hint or even stated that we want those hornet.

   Concerned Malaysia- politician without crony is really unheard of. if its true then kudos to him. but people donate for his campaign for him to be up there not for free. mat sabu just never think when he spoke or making statement and that reflect bad as someone who represent the mindef.

6. Right now we need to quickly move on.

   We really need to mitigate the budgetary issue. Our 2020 budget was planned assuming the oil is at USD60 per barrel. Now it is looking likely to hover around USD30 per barrel.

   For the next malaysian plan, the defence ministry and home ministry need to ensure all current projects are completed, and essential capabilities such as TUDM MPA, LCA and Medium Helicopters, MMEA OPV etc to be fully funded.

7. @…
   The price of fossil oil around $30 per barrel is worrying. I think it will around $30 per barrel for sometimes ahead because unresolved US-China trade war that drag world economy and covid 19 makes thing worse.

   Malaysia is an export oil countries, it will reduce government income. Damn, a bumpy economy.

   IMO, all procurement plan will be postponed again no matter who is the defence minister. If can get MRSS it is already considered a blessing.

8. @ Romeo

   MRSS? That should be the least of our concerns right now. For our seaward defence in the next 5 years, the main priority IMO is to complete our 6x LCS Gowinds, and to really ramp up our OPV builds for MMEA (which is significantly cheaper and more affordable than building OPVs for TLDM).

   What we need our MRSS for, is basically a specialized ship to quickly transport 1 mechanized battalion worth (around 70 AV8 gempita or Adnan plus its logistics trucks) of equipment and men from West Malaysia to East Malaysia at 1 go. It might not necessarily be a LPD. I am currently preferring the modified fast RORO route.

   http://www.savetheroyalnavy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/A-closer-look-at-the-Littoral-Strike-Ship-1014×487.jpg

9. Zack – “Last time it was liew chin tong that move the mindef from what i heard””

   He said the right things. Articles he wrote and were published in the papers impressed me.

   Zack – “ at least give more hint or even stated that we want those hornet“

   Not as simple as that.

   As I said; it’s just not an immediate priority and such a decision has to come from the very top after examining various long term factors; not just the positive aspects. The very top is very busy focussing on various other things a d defence isn’t a priority – a hard fact. The first order of the day for the new minister is to get acquainted with the demand of his job. He’ll be under pressure from various quarters to get things moving. There is also the possibility that the new Defence Minister is not personally keen on aged pre owned air frames or on the other hand he might be. He might also decide that there are far other pressing things to focus on; like the LCS or lease of utility helis in numbers. Talks have been imitated with certain companies to provide rotary utility services.

   MINDEF needs to properly steer things in the right direction. Its needs to ensure that the requirements of the armed services – based on affordability, sustainability, threat perceptions, etc – are prioritised in order and that that they may be subject to change; whilst also maintaining continuity as best we can. It also needs the support of the politicians make things work.

10. Romeo,

    What would be a “blessing” is if the new government stays the course or improves on things that have already been approved for acquisition; subject to funding.

    Yes we need MRSSs and have needed them for a long time now but given present needs; of far more importance are MPAs, UASs and helicopters.

11. Hopefully a brighter future in all aspect of defence under the new MENHAN.

    Selamat menjalankan tugas DS Ismail Sabri Yaakob

12. ZekMR,

    Hopefully the leadership of this country – whoever they may be – will gradually adopt a more realistic and holistic assessment of our long term defence needs; including making the needed consistent investments and revamping how we go about procurement.

    Not only does MINDEF needs good leadership; it also needs good leadership and direction from the very top.

13. @zack
    If LCT was doing something, it wasn’t good enough. There isn’t anything moving other than what was carried out in the last last administration. The buys weren’t coming and there is little to no direction from KEMENTAH for the future. What we still see are just tweaks of 15-to-5 and CAP55 plans. You might say, yeah there’s the DWP tho, but then again some who were expecting more came disappointed. Did he do a good job as a deputy to back up his boss or preening to make himself look good? This is what I wrote previously.

    “If our Dep Menhan isn’t able to support and convince his boss to do a better job, then he isn’t performing himself. Its easy to make statements when he isn’t the one responsible for carrying out or shouldering the blame. His ideas should have been coming from our Menhan.

    But normally in any organisation, the more inept the bosses are the easier for seconders to drive the direction of that organisation. So either he isn’t taking advantage of his bosses ineptitude or he is just as oblivious to the situation or he just don’t care as long he continues to get his monthly paycheck.”

14. @… And @Azlan

    You miss my point there.
    I’m pointing out on near future MY economy.
    The trade war, the plunge of oil price, and covid19 will drag down MY economy.
    For comparison the plunge of oil price will hit MY economy more then indonesia/singapore as both nation are considered as oil importers and get benefit from it.
    It is just a few years ago when oil price stood at $30 and government must make huge debt just to keep the GDP at 5%. This year maybe GDP will stand at 3.5%-4%.

    How to buy military equipments when GDP only rise at that level?

    Well, if LCS and OPV is the main focus, hopely both project still manageable. As we all know both project are facing financial and or manufacturing problems.

15. @ romeo

    ” How to buy military equipments when GDP only rise at that level? ”

    Prioritize. That is how. Tough decisions need to be made, and money need to be spent. This is no time for vanity or goldplating projects. If used equipments is what we can afford, then used it is. As is FMS sales. Get military and defence equipments that can really protect our economy, and our Exclusive Economic Zone.

    Uncertainty can be a big cause for conflicts, and we cannot afford not to prepare for it.

16. …. – “ used equipments is what we can afford, then used it””

    Only if whatever pre owned gear bought doesn’t cost and arm and leg to operate and maintain for the remainder of their service lives. No point buying something “cheap” to achieve short term cost savings; only to discover later certain things are prohibitive to support.

    Some things we should get pre owned and some we shouldn’t. Even before the Perry and the M-109s the armed services have declined various offers for certain pre owned gear: because when things get too expensive or troublesome to maintain; the government is reluctant or takes its time providing funding.

    Romeo,

    No I don’t think I “missed” your point ..

    I would be happy if for a start; things attract planned for are funded; never mind that we’re getting them in measly amounts.

17. …..

    Priority/continuity ….

    It’s good we have listed the LCAs, MPAs and UASs as priorities. Unfortunately the lack of any meaningful means our ability to use them effectively will be somewhat limited.

18. …. – “Uncertainty can be a big cause for conflicts, and we cannot afford not to prepare for it.””

    Yes no doubt but although we can and do have plans in place for a variety of contingencies; the harsh reality is that the MAF can only be expected to do so much. What we do is to try to identify scenarios that are likely to occur and plan on dealing with them to the best we can whilst also maintaining some level of capability to deal with other threats.

    It’s all about making the right calculations and hoping we don’t get it wrong – a challenge everyone faces as militaries don’t always get to fight the conflicts they plan or are geared for. Like everyone else; we unfortunately might be faced with a scenario we didn’t plan or prepare for: i.e. the plan for LCAs are catered for the possibility that we are unlikely to be engaged in a state on state high intensity conflict and that since funds are tight its a risk or trade off we can incur; if however something more serious broke out; we’d regret not making the needed investments in MRCAs and a AEW platform. Same goes with the LCS; it’s fitted out the way it is not only because of funding but because of our threat perceptions : hence the modest 16 VLS and short range SAM.

    To be fair it’s not only us; despite all the recent purchases made by others the fact remains that with the exception of Singapore and to a lesser degree Vietnam; all the other regional militaries are more geared for non protracted low intensity external threats with a heavy emphasis on internal security.

19. P.S.
    “Unfortunately the lack of any meaningful “numbers” means our ability to use them effectively will be somewhat limited

20. Off topic

    On the looming threat of coronavirus.

    Hopefully MINDEF, KDN and KKM has started planning for the worse case scenario of needing to lockdown the whole country like Italy. Plans for additional ICU beds, quarantine centres, and emergency laws to force people to stay in their homes.

    @ azlan

    Lack of meaningful numbers is something we really need to seriously address. No use of top of the line hardware but bought in token numbers. MPA, LCA and UAVs need to be bought in meaningful numbers, even if that meant we have to go for middle spec hardwares. We also should have batch 2 already planned for Gempita, Gowinds, MMEA NGPC and MMEA OPV.

21. joe-what you expect really from a government that not priorities defense???minister usually from politician and based on that, you can see many are not that good even mat sabu is below par which is why having lct there is good. mindef operate based on money given by MOF that been approve by PM or cabinet, so you cant expect them to have total authority there.even the CAP55 and 15 to 5 plan was subject to cabinet decision before.

    politician may form an organization called party but they rarely follow the rule of logic as you can see from the problem that lead to the formation of new government we have now.

22. …, – “Lack of meaningful numbers is something we really need to seriously address””

    Indeed but easier said than done because ultimately it’s dependent on funding. We can prioritise all we want and make all the needed trade offs buy “tightening our belts’ but it all boils down to funding.Its not as if the services are insisting on ‘gold plated’ gear in large numbers. The state of the MAF now is because it’s been underfunded for so long and as time drags on other items will have to be replaced.
    It’s a never ending cycle that only gets worst due to constant underfunding on the part of the government.

    …. – “We also should have batch 2 already planned for Gempita, Gowinds, MMEA NGPC and MMEA OPV””

    With the exception of the AV-8s for which the army has no plans, wanting instead 6x6s; there are various plans to progressively acquire things. Similarly the MMEA would already have long term detailing what is needed to progressively build up its capabilities.

    The trick is to get the requirements registered then approved and even then, approval does not necessarily lead to funding, as we all know.