MP SPEAKS | Why was PAC report on combat ships not tabled in March?

MP SPEAKS | One question which had been nagging me was why the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on the latest financial scandal in Malaysia, the RM9.13 billion scandal on the six littoral combat ships (LCS), was presented to Parliament during its last sitting on Aug 4 when it should have been tabled in March to allow for parliamentary debate and greater public scrutiny.

This was because the last meeting of the PAC on the six LCSs was on March 8 and it is a great remiss of parliamentary responsibility and duty not to ensure that the PAC report is tabled in March, as Parliament met for 16 days from Feb 28 to March 24 - which meant that there were 16 days for the PAC report on the LCS to be tabled but it was not done.

Besides missing the March meeting, why wasn’t the PAC report tabled on the first day of the 12-day meeting of Dewan Rakyat in July and August, which started on July 18, instead of on the very last day on Aug 4, which did not allow the issue to be scrutinised and debated in Parliament?

Somebody seems to be purposely procrastinating so that the PAC report on the LCS scandal did not get the public scrutiny and attention it deserves. Who is this “somebody”?

An explanation is owed to Malaysians for the delay in tabling the LCS PAC report. Can the speaker of Dewan Rakyat shine a light on the matter?

The LCS PAC report which was eventually tabled in Parliament became quite outdated as it should have been tabled in March.

No ships completed despite ‘launching’

Meanwhile, not a single one of the six LCS has been completed and delivered.

The first LCS was contracted to be delivered in April 2019, the second in February 2020, the third in December 2020, the fourth in October 2021, the fifth in August 2022 and the sixth in June 2023.

While not a single LCS had been completed and delivered, there was a ludicrous “launching” ceremony for the first ship in 2017.

But what is most deplorable is that the Raja Permaisuri of Perak was involved in the ludicrous “launching” ceremony of the first LCS in 2017, which after five years was still not completed.

Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein owes the Raja Permaisuri of Perak an apology as she was misled to “launch” LCS1, which until today has not been completed.

What is the present status of the six LCS, five of which were supposed to be delivered by now?

LIM KIT SIANG is Iskandar Puteri MP.

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