He described the country’s troubles with the defence industry as a double-edged sword.
While Malaysia had the potential to be a regional hub for defence manufacturing, the country was also located in a hotspot area, having to deal with such problems as the territorial disputes in the South China Sea and piracy off Sabah waters, he said.
“We are not only already in quite a precarious territory security-wise, but we are also not a rich country to allocate large funds for defence like the United States or China,” Rafizi said at a rally for young voters, part of his Ayuh Malaysia campaign.
Rafizi said the amount of money allocated for defence was used up quickly, and the defence ministry had become a money pit or trough to steal public money.
He suggested that a royal commission of inquiry be set up to look into the procurement process and to settle the problems of appointing local defence contractors.
“Put experts, generals who served the country decades ago and senior statesmen on the inquiry panel; get them to come back to help the government to put in place a robust procurement process,” he said.
Rafizi’s remarks about military procurement come in the wake of controversy over the navy’s littoral combat ship project to build six frigates. A parliamentary inquiry said none has been completed despite the expenditure so far of more than RM6.08 billion.
Rafizi has also made allegations about a conflict of interest involving a politician and contractors to Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd, which is building the frigates.
Wasted R&D funds
Speaking of money pits, Rafizi also spoke about grants for research and development, which he said had become “one of the biggest areas of wasted funds”.
There were allocations for small grants that focus on innovative ideas. However, the grants only went as far as the proof of concept stage, but there are no grants given for the implementation of such ideas.
He said: “Not one of the ideas became successful. This is because the process is opaque”.
He said it was important to recognise the different pathways for people with “genuine” ideas and capabilities to go through several stages when receiving grants.
However, Rafizi said this is contingent on being able to deliver the idea.