Hisham bombs Mindef's plan to purchase military assets

Former defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein has questioned how the government intends to purchase military assets with a reduced budget.

"You say you're going to purchase assets, but where did you get the money?

"The Defence Ministry wants to buy an unmanned aerial vehicle and maritime patrol aircraft, but its budget was cut by RM2 billion.

"If we couldn't afford to buy such assets in the past, how are they going to convince the public that they can buy these assets with the budget that was tabled?" he told reporters at the Parliament lobby today.

The Defence Ministry was allocated RM13.92 billion under Budget 2019, compared to RM15.86 billion allocated the year before.

However, defence development expenditure had increased by RM350 million to RM 3.65 billion.

Most of the budget cut was from operating expenditure, which is down RM2.29 billion to RM10.27 billion.

Meanwhile, Hishammuddin also complained about the budget cuts with regard to protecting eastern Sabah.

"He (Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu) said Sabah will be protected, but we know in Lahad Datu, the zone allocation has dropped to zero," he said.

Hishammuddin was referring to budget cuts to the ministry's advance bases and aerial systems in Labuan and Lahad Datu from RM10 million to nil.

The budget for the Eastern Sabah Security Zone has also been cut from RM97.49 million to RM74.88 million.

Hishammuddin said the Defence Ministry must perform a reality check on its planned expenses.

"I think they have to balance what to say in reality and what is black and white in the budget," he added. - Mkini