SHAH ALAM: PMX in his 2025 budget speech announced that Defence Ministry is getting RM21.1 billion allocation. This is the last budget for defence under the five-year Rancangan Malaysia Ke 12 (RM12) spanning from 2021 to 2025.
Operational Expenditure for Defence in 2025 is RM13.363 billion while Development Expenditure is RM7.492 billion. This means for RMK12, the Defence DE allocation is only RM29.02 as I wrote last year.
The requested DE allocation for RMK12 for Defence was RM55 billion and the allocation so far is RM14.7 billion. It is likely that the figure will not reach RM30 billion when RMK13 starts within two year’s time.
It is interesting to note that the requested Defence RMK12 DE allocation is RM55 billion, which means that the ministry and the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) was asking for some RM11 billion for each of the five years. RM11 billion annually at least to me seems reasonable as the government had been holding back funding for the last thirty years leaving the MAF in an enhanced state of obsolescence.
RM11 billion annually also sounds reasonable if we look at the current US dollar exchange rate – US$2.5 billion – and the challenges ahead. But again, MAF has been let down by the government which has not say why it has not approve the budget requests. To me at least give us the reason why it has not try to meet the challenges faced by MAF. MAF acknowledges the conundrum which resulted in it coming out with the CAP 55 and 15 to 5 transformation plans. Despite this, the government has yet to stick to the plan and instead goes out of the way not to stick to it.
Yes, in the three terms he has been in power, PMX has given the highest DE budget for the last three decades. In 2023 he allocated RM6.041 billion, RM7.053 bilion and the latest RM7.492 billion. But it is still not enough to recover from the Covid years and the under-investment for the last three decades. Not when the MAF is still operating some 171 assets which are three decades old. Could he have given more to meet the defence budget? I have no idea, really as I am not purview to the government finances.
Unfortunately, recent events does not augur well for MAF. Can MAF recover in the next RMK? Only time will tell and if the world does not goes berserk first.
— Malaysian Defence
View Comments (48)
Marhalim,
61 RAD under Briged Roket will be operating Flyeye UAVs soon as its organic UAS. They have published in their social media. It will be supplied by WB Technologies with Deftech as its local partner i think.
The Development Expenditure is only half of what the Defence Ministry and MAF requested. In the 2025 budget, PMX should have reduced spending on the education sector. They got a whopping 64.1 billion when 50 billion should have been enough. I will not touch the health ministry because they are essential. I'm not saying education is not essential. It's just that the expenditure on the education sector should not be THAT high when the country's armed forces expenditure is hanging on by a string.
@ marhalim
From my own calculations
RMK12 total DE (CAPEX) allocation is RM29.502 billion
If we look at the USD exchange rate from 2021-2024, that would probably be around USD6.3-6.85 billion give or take.
But the CAPEX is not 100% for buying new stuffs only. It is usually divided into
1) aset
2) perkhidmatan & bekalan
Usually aset will be around 3/4 of the CAPEX, and 1/4 would go to perkhidmatan & bekalan.
So that means the actual CAPEX for RMK12 is around USD5 billion. Basically the same level in USD as previous 2-3 RMK before.
Also a reason why I always use USD5 billion for any RMK plans as my yardstick. That is what i planned with, when i did all my proposals, the reason for used Hornets and FA-50s etc.
With the breakdown of :
USD 2 billion for TLDM
USD 1.6 billion for TUDM
USD 1.3 billion for TDM
USD 0.1 billion for angkatan bersama
and
USD 0.5 billion for APMM from KDN budget
ATM in my opinion should steadfastly stick to USD5 billion for their planning, as that is the amount that the government can afford to pay. Planning your military with an imaginary budget of USD12.6 billion is simply out of touch with the fiscal realities of the country.
Which brings me back to RMK 13 plan. I don't see any plan that is in touch with the current crucial security concern, which is preparing for a near term conflict in South China Sea.
As usual i have done all the possible options that ATM could take, but those in charge have better plans right?
Finally! No point having "long range" if one can't detect, fix and track targets in real time. 61 is the unit which operates ARTHUR. Would rather have the UAS operated by the actual unit which needs it but it is what it is. Decentralisation is the key; as demonstrated in Ukraine.
On plans people use to say the NAF should have alternative plans and think out of the box. The MAF does [of course] but the issue is when the government can't commit to anything and when it does; it shifts priorities.
Over the years on various occasions the army has announced getting ammo for the GDFs but there's yet to be a single mention of AHEAD. Granted, modifications may have been done but doesn't mean we actually got AHEAD. The Fulcrums and Skyhawks were wired for Adder and Maverick but never received them.
If things go south the best we can do is going for the special withdrawal with the world bank. If it ever comes to that probably the straits will be swarming with warships of the east & west.
>PMX should have reduced spending on the education sector
This has got to be the stupidest and most callous suggestions
"US$2.5 billion"
Looking at macro things in perspective its only recent month that RM is strengthening. For the past few years were looking at USD $2bil or below for the DE budget which is not enough to cover 3 main branches and the civvie security. Should PMX be commended for giving more to defence now? Not really.
As I said before, money has to come from somewhere and during his tenure, inflation has gone up like crazy while RM was shrinking, the HR Ministry reported the last few years we lost 300,000 jobs. Thats a lot, and with upcoming subsidy removals & tax hikes it is the rakyat that is paying for all these increases, including defence. So why should the congrats go to PMX? It is the rakyat that deserves it!
Coming back to the budget its still an illusion of course. We shouldnt look at how much it is per year in RM value but in USD which we are using to buy these equipment. So if we dont want to be Robbing Peter(rakyat) to pay Paul(Defence), what PMX should be doing is to truly strengthen RM vis a vis 1st World currencies esp USD, that way our RM 11Bill will be a bit closer to USD $3-4Bil. With each service getting USD $1Bil, there is a lot that we can give to them (even after factoring the cost of localisation).
Qamarul - "If things go south"
The country is not short of cash; the MAF is.
Qamarul - ". If it ever comes to that probably the straits will be swarming with warships of the east & west"
As a majorvdes lane the Straits of Melaka is already "swarming with warships of the east & west".
There is nothing we can do about defence budget in RMK12.
Lesson should already be larned. Unless gov increase defence budget in RMK13 at least 2% of gdp and fixing policy in asset procurement we will see MAF is using more obsolete assers.