Mat Sabu likens white paper to 'grocery list' for defence planning

Come September, the Defence Ministry plans to table in Parliament a white paper on the country's future defence planning and procurement and this is a first for the country according to minister Mohamad Sabu.

Explaining it in layman terms, Mohamad, popularly known as Mat Sabu, likened the white paper to a grocery list for the country's defence planning. 

"Simply put, the white paper is like when you get your salary and you want to go to the mini-market so you write down what you want to buy.

"It is not like when you don't know what to buy (and get influenced) by the salespeople to buy this and that and then when you come home, your wife tells you that you forgot to buy belacan (shrimp paste)," he said with a smile.

Speaking at a joint media interview in Kuala Lumpur recently, the minister said the white paper will lay out a 10-year plan for the country's defence needs based on detailed research from experts.

One example the paper would outline, he said, was how the armed forces should respond to natural disasters both in Malaysia and abroad. It will also outline a plan for the procurement of defence assets.

Mohamad listed the upcoming white paper as among the Defence Ministry's key decisions during Pakatan Harapan's first year in government.

He said the biggest move the ministry made in the past year was to get its special investigation committee on procurement, governance and finance to probe the ministry's previous land deals.

The probe had uncovered land swap deals involving the ministry which resulted in more than RM500 million in losses and leakages.

The defence minister said investigations into other matters such as the previous government's controversial purchase of the Scorpene submarines were still ongoing.

Meanwhile, another notable decision, said Mohamad, was for Malaysia to pull out from the Saudi Arabian armed coalition that was besieging Yemen.

He also noted that under Pakatan Harapan, the National Veterans Council had held its official meeting, the first after having been established in 2012. - Mkini