SHAH ALAM, 3 Apr: The action to sign 24 joint agreements and memorandums of understanding for defense worth more than RM4.2 billion by the Umno-BN Government which was made in haste has raised many questions.
Among the questions asked are if the agreement was made to procure commissions and if it is an attempt to burden Pakatan Rakyat (PR) should PR be successful in toppling BN in the upcoming 13th General Elections (GE-13).
This was said by constitution expert, Dr Aziz Bari when contacted by TV Selangor.
“In his fear to dissolve before five years, he made a huge commitment; this is not a good signal for the people.
“The billions spent should be done by the new government and not the old government at the end of their term.
“Umno-BN should wait until after the elections and see what happens first (because) PR has a bright future of going to Putrajaya, is if as though they want to burden the new government or also to multiply commissions for their cronies,” said Dr Aziz who is a former lecturer at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).
This action is equivalent to the ‘scorched-earth’ policy when the Japanese nearly conquered Malaya and the British took to destroying infrastructures such as roads, railways, bridges, rubber plantations, mines and oil wells in Miri for the purpose of sabotage.
The agreement worth RM4.2 billion was signed by the Malaysian Ministry of Defense during the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) held recently.
The LIMA exhibition is an annual event which is held in December each year.
However, for the first time, the event was carried out in March, unlike its 11 editions previously which were held during the year-end school holidays thus justifying the claim that the LIMA 13′ was held in haste for the agreement signing.