Ministry explains why no open tender for submarines

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — The purchase of our two Scorpene-class submarines, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman and KD Tun Razak, was not made through an open tender as doing so would expose the country's defence system, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said a similar approach was also taken by countries like India, Chile and Brazil.


"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," he said in reply to the supplementary question from Nga Kor Ming (DAP-Taiping).

Abdul Latiff said prior to entering negotiations for the submarines, the government had studied all aspects including their suitability for the country's security needs.

"We had also looked into the expertise of the companies building the submarines," he said.

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

Replying to Tengku Datuk Seri Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar (BN-Jerantut) on whether the government was giving any special incentive to the country's first batch of submarine crewmen, Abdul Latiff said the government was looking into it.

Abdul Latiff said the country's first submarine was a new generation of diesel submarine and had superior combat capabilities. The KD Tunku Abdul Rahman is manned by 32 crewmen.

The maintenance cost for the two submarines, including spare parts, is about RM270 million a year, he said.

"Maintenance is done at the Sepanggar naval base which is now fully operational," he said. — Bernama