Ex-serviceman: BN losing military votes

Contrary to the claim by the deputy defence minister, the RMAF Veterans Association president says the more controversies that crop up concerning military procurement, the worse it is for BN.

PETALING JAYA: It is Barisan Nasional and not the opposition which is witnessing a decline in support from those serving the military, said the Royal Malaysian Air Force Veterans Association.

Its president Shahrin Osman said the government’s silence over the controversies surrounding military procurement could result in an electoral backlash.

“The more the opposition tells these stories, the more army men and ex-army men will vote for the opposition,” said the former flight sergeant.

“The government should counter these claims by proving to the public what they are doing is right. But the problem is there is no approach from the government at all to address this,” he told FMT.

He was responding to Deputy Defence Minister Abdul Latiff Ahmad who told Parliament yesterday that politicising the issue of military procurement would hurt the feelings of servicemen and result in them supporting BN.

Shahrin also said that most of the ex-armed forces personnel do not trust the mainstream media, especially the Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia.

“I just spoke to some of them, and they are saying they don’t read Utusan now. It only carries ‘sweet stories’ (about the government),” he said.

Opposition blows things up

On the same note, Shahrin also pointed out that the opposition had a tendency for blowing things out of proportion.

“Not all their allegations are totally false but the opposition tends to exaggerate. If the story is 10% real, usually they’ll add another 30% of fiction.

“But it is not wrong for them to raise questions. When we were in the armed forces, we knew the prices and we knew the prices become higher when it comes to buying,” he said.

Shahrin said the government should go down to the ground to explain to the people the truth.

“This is what my association is doing. We organise programmes asking ministers to clarify their actions and what benefit it does for the people,” he added.

Shahrin said that the government’s treatment of retired armed forces personnel was also not helping the situation.

“Many things are not fulfilled. Many of us feel cheated by the government. The pensions are also too little for these men, who find it hard to adapt to civilian life and normal jobs,” he said.

Vote an individual right

Commenting on the same issue, Malaysia ex-Army Association (PBTM) president Muhammad Abdul Ghani said that a vote was an individual right.

“I believe that a vote is a personal right. Military men should think properly on whether an issue is true or not, differentiate between lies and truth. If it is just baseless allegations, we should not take them into account,” he said.

“I’m sure that many of the ex-servicemen are smart enough to evaluate. The more they mention about these issues, the better,” he said.

However, Sarawak Veteran Armed Forces Association president Thomas Ling said that he fully supported the deputy minister on this matter.

“We cannot accept politicians, especially those from the opposition, simply releasing statements to accuse our people of misconduct. I believe all ex-servicemen are loyal to our leaders under the prime minister who leads us,” he added.

In recent years, Pakatan Rakyat had questioned the government’s procurement of defence equipment.

These included salvos against the Scorpene submarines, RM9 billion for six Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), an estimated RM2 billion for a Mindef IT project, RM7.55 billion for armoured carriers and other matters.