Mindef defends building of warships in China

The building of four littoral mission ships (LMS) in China will not see Malaysia losing out on high-skilled jobs.

The Defence Ministry said this will also not negatively impact Sino-Malaysian discussions on technology and knowledge transfer between the two nations.

“It must be stressed that the procurement contract signed was between the Malaysian government and Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS).

"Malaysia will not lose high-skilled jobs, as BNS will ensure the skills remain with BNS,” it said in a statement today.

The ministry also noted that China has agreed to implement programmes on technology and knowledge transfer with BNS, a subsidiary of Boustead Holdings Bhd, and other identified vendors.

This will encompass areas such as maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) and logistic support, it added.

“This will be able to support the needs of the navy in maintaining and overhauling national strategic assets, while at the same time reducing dependence on other countries,” the statement read.

In the original RM1.17 billion four-year contract penned in March 2017, two LMS were to be locally constructed by BNS, and two by China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Company (CSOC) in China.

This was revised by the Pakatan Harapan government last October, which decided that all four ships would be built in China to save on costs.

Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu recently said this had saved the government RM122 million as the revised contract was valued at RM1.048 billion.