DEC 22 — The fact that not one but two fighter aircraft engines could go missing from the Royal Malaysian Air Force's (RMAF) inventory is not just a normal case of theft. It involves national security. And not only must heads roll, those involved must be tried for nothing less than treason.
The government's response and the manner in which the case has been handled so far have been appalling to say the least. We are now being told that the theft was discovered last May. And a police report was lodged only last August. So what was the Defence Ministry and RMAF doing in those three months? Were they looking under mattresses for the engines?
But yet Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak claims there is no cover up. He was then Defence Minister in Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's Cabinet. He should have recommended then for the theft to be announced to the public.
We are now told that a top general was sacked. Who is this man? If he is found to be liable for the theft he should perhaps face more severe action.
Najib has allowed the issue to be kept under wraps for more than a year. In the eyes of the public that sounds like a cover up. The fact that a police report was lodged does not mean there was no cover up.
According to Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, his office only received the investigations papers from the police last month. And now, he has sent the papers back to the police with further directives.
Meanwhile, the public has still not been given wider assurances that the country's defence inventory is in place.
Has any official from Mindef even bothered to issue a statement to say that Malaysia's inventory of defence equipment is safe and sound? Or are Malaysians to assume everything is fine? Just like the public assumed two fighter engines could not have been stolen.
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