Group plans protest over navy ship scandal on Sunday
Published on: Thursday, August 11, 2022
By: FMT
A similar protest was held outside Sogo in Kuala Lumpur over the rising cost of living in July.
PETALING JAYA: Protesters are set to take to the streets of Kuala Lumpur on Sunday over the controversial RM9 billion littoral combat ship (LCS) project.
Its organisers said the protest would take place at 2pm outside the Sogo shopping complex at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman.
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They want the government to form a royal commission of inquiry following the release of a report by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee on the project.
The group also called for defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein to resign for failing to take responsibility for the troubled project, which has seen numerous delays over the years.
“Hishammuddin’s actions as the defence minister then and now have put our national security at risk,” it said in a statement.
The group also called on the government to address the complaints made by then navy chief Abdul Aziz Jaafar on the purchase of the ships.
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Citing the PAC report, it said Aziz had sent 10 letters to the government to voice concerns over the project, all of which were ignored.
“These include five letters to the defence ministry, one to the Treasury secretary-general, one to the chief secretary to the government, and two to the prime minister,” it said.
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It called on political leaders, NGOs and representatives of civil societies to join the protest.
In July, a similar protest was held outside Sogo over the rising cost of living.
Yesterday, Putrajaya agreed to declassify the governance, procurement and finance investigation committee’s report on the LCS project.
Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob also said the Cabinet agreed to declassify the 2019 forensic report on the project, though Putrajaya would need to obtain the Attorney-General and Auditor-General’s advice first.
The LCS project is in the spotlight again after the PAC released its report which, among other things, found that not a single ship had been completed although Putrajaya had already spent RM6 billion.
PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh also said the defence ministry and Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd had ignored the navy’s views on the project.
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