Make Love, Not War

This would be a good motto for most countries for we all know that war only brings untold suffering, especially to ordinary citizens.

Even the religious uproar over the cartoons insulting Islam show that many innocent victims are affected because of unintended consequences like the suspension of the Sarawak Tribune.

To protect national security, we need a framework of the armed forces that is operationally ready; that is prepared to defend the nation at short notice and with the weapons at its disposal.

Therefore it comes as a shock to learn that within 2 years of new equipment being purchased at high prices, the armed vehicles are now adorning a very expensive parking lot.

Is the armed forces strategy one of, “We will only fight a war until the tanks run out of petrol?”
Maybe we hope to follow the Israelis tactics during the Seven-Day War?

How many officers do we send abroad each year to military colleges? Is all that training being wasted that a simple procurement and maintenance contract has not been planned for such vital equipment?

Who is responsible for such a glaring blunder? This seems to be another case of savouring all the benefits of a large project without much thought into the future.

One wonders how the contracts are being evaluated when maintenance costs are not being considered.
In most companies, the cost of any equipment is weighed together with the running costs for at least two years before any equipment is selected.

If our military planners cannot cope with such sophisticated equipment, perhaps we should convert some of the Armoured Corp into bicycle soldiers who carry the shoulder grenade launchers. That would be more effective than those expensive sitting ducks that are immobilised.

It is also scandalous that the Air Force faces similar problems. One hopes that our courageous flyboys are not using aircraft that have expired their “fly by” date or does this explain the numerous air crashes we have experienced?

As for the Navy, well we know all about the ships that are docked in Lumut. We should sign peace treaties with all the ASEAN countries pronto.