Mat Sabu’s goal as minister? Revamping Mindef’s image

KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 — Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu is out to prove his ministry’s critics wrong.

The seasoned politician known for his fiery speeches on the campaign trail said he is tired of the criticism targeting the Defence Ministry and intends to reform it to be beyond reproach.

While the barbs were aimed at his predecessors, the lawmaker known as Mat Sabu said it was up to him now to fix those problems.

“After this one term, I want this ministry to come out with a new image, because when we entered last time, there was a lot of criticism. From Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, from many others including Cynthia Gabriel from C4 on the submarine issue and all that. Just too many things.

“So after one term, we want to come out as a ministry that is seen as clean and one that is top notch,” Mohamad told Malay Mail in a recent interview ahead of Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) first anniversary as the federal government.

He said that there is still much work to do as the defence minister, which he also said has room for improvement.

“If you ask me if I am satisfied, I am not satisfied as yet, because there are a lot of things which need to be improved, so we can get the best value for the government’s money and the people’s monies, for the nation’s defence and Malaysia’s security,” he added.

In April last year and ahead of the general election, former minister Rafidah alleged that land belonging to the Armed Forces was alienated by a company supposedly under the control of three key individuals.

Then under Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, the ministry issued a statement denying irregularity and insisted that it employed various measures for development projects, which include privatisation through land-swapping deals.

On the controversial Scorpene-class submarines purchased when former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had headed the ministry, Mohamad said investigations into alleged corruption in the deal were ongoing and indefinite.

Last year, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) reopened its investigation into Malaysia’s 2002 purchase of the two submarines that are mired in allegations of kickbacks and intertwined with the murder of Mongolian Altantyua Shaariibuu.

Najib was connected to the matter via former aide Abdul Razak Baginda, a former lover to Altantuya, who was charged and acquitted of her murder that has since been pinned on two former elite police commandos who happened to be part of Najib’s previous security detail.

A source familiar with the matter confirmed to Malay Mail that the Scorpene case is being reviewed, adding that Abdul Razak is expected to be called in for questioning.

Anti-corruption watchdog C4 had been pursuing corruption allegations in the Scorpene deal since Barisan Nasional’s time.

According to previous reports, the 2002 deal for submarines purchased from France’s DCNS was worth around €1 billion (RM4.79 billion) and allegedly involved corruption with a commission of about RM540 million to a shell company with alleged ties to Razak.

In July 2017, newswire AFP reported that French investigators had indicted two former top officials of the related French companies for corruption, while two other former top officials were also being investigated in France over the case. The four were then reported to have denied wrongdoing.