What are our defence priorities?

FRENCH President Francois Hollande was here recently to persuade the government to buy the Dassault Aviation SA's Rafale fighter jets.
The Rafale is seen as a frontrunner as Malaysia looks to buy up to 18 jets in a deal potentially worth more than RM9 billion.
The French have even started advertising their Rafale fighter jets in newspapers.
British Aerospace is also competing for a slice of Malaysia's defence pie, trying to flog their Typhoons in a RM10 billion deal they hope to clinch with a "Buy 1-Get 1 free" offer.
The French are desperate to sell their arms because 60% of their exports are made up of arms. They obviously have not heeded the wise words of their literateur Albert Camus who said, "Peace is the only battle worth waging".
The key question is whether Malaysia actually needs any of these fighter jets, considering their cost is spiralling way out of control and such jets are quickly obsolete? Malaysian taxpayers need to be wary of this record breaking arms deal.
RM500m a fighter jet?
According to Bank Negara, Malaysia's total external debt has risen to RM909 billion in 2016, which is equal to 73.9% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
This raises a red flag about whether we can afford such levels of defence spending and importantly, is what we are spending allocated wisely on arms priorities considering our debt situation?
Taxpayers deserve answers to these key questions:
» Are multi-role combat aircraft our priority considering the latest F35s cost at least half a billion ringgit a piece?
» And if the F35 Raptors cost more than RM500 million, should these French Rafaels similarly cost more than RM500 million?
» Can we see some competitive offers from other manufacturers?
Our Defence Ministry says it is planning to replace the RMAF squadron of Russian MiG-29 combat planes.
Can we have a report on the relative performances of our MiGs, Sukhois, Hawks and F18s?
Can we also have an audit report on the compatibility of our Russian, British, US (and now French?) fighter jets and especially the compatibility of their avionic systems?
What lessons do our past purchase choices hold for our future fighter jet procurements?
The prime minister has said Malaysia's defence spending will continue to grow as our armed forces have embarked on a long-term plan to modernise and upgrade their equipment and that RM26 billion had been allocated under the 11th Malaysia Plan for defence, public order and enforcement.
Who are our enemies and what appropriate weaponry do we need?
One would think that this is the first question the Ministry of Defence would ask in the multi-billion decisions to procure armaments.
Yet our National Defence Policy has never been properly debated in Parliament.
One of the rare moments we got to use our F18 fighter bombers and Hawk 208 fighter jets was against those invaders described by the defence minister as a "rag-tag army" at Lahad Datu a few years ago.
Wouldn't armoured cars and tanks and mortars have been sufficient in that 4 sq km area of land against that motley crew?
What are our priorities for naval defence?
When the bombardment began at Lahad Datu, it was mentioned that the navy had formed a cordon to prevent the intruders from getting away.
It was clear that there never was a cordon to prevent any intruders from getting INTO Sabah all these years.
Looking at the geography of the area, our two submarines built by the French DCNS sitting pretty at Sepanggar Bay and our six New Generation Patrol Vessels (costing RM9 billion) were not the most suitable vessels in the circumstances.
It brings to mind the question of the appropriate vessels that should be the priority for our navy.
As part of the RM5 billion arms deal signed between Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Margaret Thatcher in 1989, we procured two corvettes built by the Yarrow
shipbuilders costing RM2.2 billion.
At the time, the Royal Malaysian Navy said it required 16 offshore patrol vessels but due to financial constraints, the RMN could only afford four or five of these locally-built OPVs.
Mindef had budgeted RM85 million per OPV. Now, in the light of the latest incident at Lahad Datu, Malaysians will be in a better position to see the appropriate vessels that would be more suitable to secure the Sabah coastline.
Before the Lahad Datu incident, our main "enemies" testing the capacity of our armed forces were the pirates in the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca.
There were no bigger "enemies" than those seafaring marauders.
Are state-of-the-art fighter jets and submarines the appropriate weaponry against pirates?
These would likewise be inappropriate if "international terrorists" and suicide bombers choose to target Malaysia.
Rising tensions in the South China Sea
We are now told that Malaysia wants to revamp of its ageing naval fleet in the face of threats from rising tensions in the South China Sea.
Malaysia's navy aims to replace all 50 vessels in its fleet and this will be led by the procurement of four littoral mission ships (LMS) built in collaboration with China. The deal is worth more than RM1 billion.
One would imagine that by its reference to "rising tensions", the government is referring to China's claims to the disputed islands in the South China Sea.
So if China is seen as a possible "enemy", should China have a hand in the building of these littoral mission ships? It seems a strange logic in justifying the purchase of these four warships.
Or are the Asean countries also seen as possible "enemies" since there is an unspoken arms race among the Asean countries through the years which merely exhausts the hard-earned resources of our peoples.
Indonesia's total defence spending has jumped around 26%, and Thailand's military government has just approved a US$389.05 million submarine deal with China.
The Malaysian Navy is reported to be in the final stages of negotiations with French shipbuilder DCNS to build the larger littoral combat ships (LCS), three new multi-role support ships (MRSS) and two more submarines.
Knowing the bill for the two Scorpene submarines was more than RM7 billion, Malaysian taxpayers should be prepared for the worst.
So, exactly how are decisions made in the Ministry of Defence to buy the submarines, the corvettes, the frigates instead of more patrol boats to guard our coastlines?
With our external debt spiralling towards RM1 trillion, taxpayers would do well to question the government's defence priorities and to call on the government to justify the next multi-billion arms procurements with full transparency.
Malaysians need to be reminded that with RM1 billion, we can build at least 1,000 rural schools or 100 district hospitals.
Kua Kia Soong is Suaram's adviser. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com