Abdul Latiff Ahmad

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 22, 2009) : The purchase of two Scorpene submarines was done through direct negotiation in order to protect the country’s defence system, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Condemning the opposition for suggesting that the purchase should have been done via open tender, Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said doing so may cause Malaysia' security secrets to be exposed.

"What we do is, we have our own intelligence whereby first we study all companies with expertise in submarines and see whether their specifications suit the country’s security needs.

"Had we decided to call for an open tender, we would have exposed our defence secrets to enemies. In the acquisition of defence assets, no countries would go for an open tender to buy submarines."

"If we have an open tender, it means we are submitting our defence system to outsiders. Is this what the opposition wants?" he asked in reply to Nga Kor Ming (DAP-Taiping).

Abdul Latiff said similar approach was also taken by countries such as India, Chile and Brazil.

The government had also studied the experience of other countries like India, Pakistan, Turkey, France, German, the Netherlands and South Korea in acquiring the submarines.

Nga asked why the submarine purchase was done through direct negotiation although the Treasury has directed that all purchases involving more than RM200,000 must be done through open tender. He also asked what were the specialties of the two companies involved.

The submarines were procured from Armaris of France and Navantia of Spain at in a contract signed in June 2002 and worth Euro 1.084 billion (RM5.52 billion).

To the original question from Datuk Seri Tengku Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar (BN-Jerantut), Abdul Latiff said the first submarine named KD Tunku Abdul Rahman arrived in Malaysia on Sept 3, 2009 while the second, KD Tun Razak was still under construction.

"It is 98% completed now and expected to be handed over to the Royal Malaysian Navy on Nov 3, 2009. It will leave for Malaysia in February next year and expected to arrive in April," he said.

He also said the estimated cost of maintenance for the two submarines is RM270 million a year and it will be done at the Teluk Sepanggar naval base.