Of PAC, pact, peck, packed...

Are we being PAC-stamped (for the buses)? Is there a secret pact on the bus purchase? Are we being pecked in submarine deal? Will there be more exposures specially packed for this coming CNY?

I woke up this morning thinking about Malaysia's "Only in Malaysia" submarine and buses and out of the blue remembered about an old joke which goes something like this...

Way back then, there was this Pahang guy who purchased a brand new Volswagen beetle and have the salesman delivered the car right up to his doorsteps on a trailer. After the car was offloaded and the salesman left, this guy open the hood of his new car.

Lo and behold, this guy's lips turned white (although his lips were normally red) and the guy go to the rear and quickly opened the bonnet. His lips returned red when he exclaimed "It is a good thing that this car has a spare engine at the back!"

Well, that's what almost happened to Malaysia. In my last posting, it has been highlighted about the technical problems besieging our first submarine, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman. In a nutshell, we are faced with "teething" problems of :-

1. The submarine could not dive because of defects in the high pressure air blowing system in the ballast tank;
2. The tropical water trials will be delayed to 18th Feb 2010;
3. First defect detected on 17th Dec 2009;
4. Our Defense minister, Zahid Hamidi said "The submarine can still dive but when we detected the defects, we were advised that it should not dive,";
5. The warranty of the submarine is supposed to expire on 25th Jan 2010 and has been extended to May 2010;
6. The submarine has undergone 2 years of trials in France before delivered to Malaysia early last year;
   

I am not sure about you guys but isn't it normal for certain procedures to be adhered to when purchases are made? Consider these :-

1. What are the trial tests conducted in France for the last 2 years? Does it involves diving? Or is it just visual inspection? Do we go for leakage test? Floatation test or submerge test?
   
2. Were the trials attended and witnessed by Malaysians naval officers? If yes, then what are their report? Are they there witnessing and participating the tests or are they there on "look see, look see" excursion?
3. When do the warranty period starts? Have the manufacturer completes "Testing & Commissioning"? Have the submarine certified with "Practical completion"? When is the hand-over date?
4. It is quite strange to note that the warranty period for the submarine is only 1 year. Even when you purchase a car, the warranty period for certain parts is 5 years. I understand that some engines purchased by Malaysia has 2 to 5 year warranty. Why only 1 year for submarine? Has someone blunder on this aspect of warranty too?
5. Does tropical water trials considered as part of Testing & Commissioning procedures? If yes, then the submarine has not completed its Testing & Commissioning and thus there is no proper handing over. If so, then how could the warranty period takes effect from January 2009?
6. On Zahid's statement, it is like saying "the plane can fly, but we were advised not to fly the plane" If that is so, why purchase a submarine? Why not just purchase a ship? A ship too can dive (as in KD Inderaputra) but it has better use when it is afloat...
   

That aside, we have not even browse through the so-called maintenance contract's terms of agreement which is currently being negotiated between Boustead DCNS and the Government of Malaysia. Let us remind those in power that out of sight (errr by diving) does not mean out of mind....

If I were to stay longer on the subject, motion sickness might affect me and I might end up vomitting. So, let's move on to stable grounds....

Remember this thing about Prasarana's buses? Let's do a quick recap :-

1. Prasarana bought 1,294 used buses in 2003 at a price of RM 93M. That's RM 71,870 each;
2. The buses were bought from DRB-Hicom and Park May;
3. In 2005, a professional evaluation was carried out and 1,139 (88%) of the buses were not in good condition;
4. In 2008, Prasarana received approval to scrap the 1,139 buses;
5. Monies from scrap metal sale is an astounding RM 4.4 M for 959 buses (RM 4,488 per bus scrap). That is a lose of RM 67,382 per bus ie 93.75 %;
   

Looking at it, I expected more :-

1. The rationale of purchasing the buses were part of the plan to restructure public transportation system. But the question is - Do Prasarana have the expertise to manage the buses? It is clear here that Prasarana do not even have the "eye" to make good buys, how do we expect them to make good investment?;
2. The buses were purchased from DRB-Hicom and Parkmay. It seems like having a familiar ring to it. Isn't DRB-Hicom once Malaysia's golden son? Where the company could do no wrong? If so, why is Prasarana purchasing the buses from DRB-Hicom? Is there any specific instructions to purchase the buses from DRB-Hicom? Why not but buses from Lee Heng, SJ or Metro buses too?;
3. The same goes to Parkmay - is the Government indebted to any of the board members then? Why Parkmay? Maybe someone can look through and see whether there is any Tun, Tan Sri, Datuk Sri and whatever the left-over Sris on the Board of Directors;
4. Were there any professional evaluation done prior to the purchase of the buses? If yes, who carry out the evaluation and why the evaluers failed to spot on the conditions of the buses? Were they swayed to put in glowing report on the purchase?;
5. If there is no professional evaluation done, then who determines on the value of the buses? On what technical aspects were the purchase done? Is the purchase done solely on "I know his company?" or was it done based on sound economic evaluation?;
6. Why were the professional evaluation done in 2005? Who instruct it? Why the need to evaluate it in 2005?
7. The auditors report mentioned it in 2008. Why do the PAC only acted now in 2010, 2 years after the report? What is PAC doing from 2008 to 2010?
   

Of course, there will be more questions than answers when it comes to Malaysia. However, I see that PAC's investigation is just another PAC-stamped "no abuse of power". No doubt PAC members come from both the ruling and opposition parties but considering the purchase was done in 2003, the paper trails will be long cold by now. On top of that, the decision makers may have already move to different pastures and there is nothing PAC or for that matter MACC, police, Suhakam or whatever commissions available can do about it.

It will be another of those PAC-stamped "no crime" involved and there will be the normal "legally right, morally wrong" story. What a pity - we as the rakyats will always be at the receiving end whilst the PAC chairman is a mite too busy maintaining his wife. MACC chief looking behind and protecting his ass whilst our number 1 crime fighter is having his own crisis of confidence.

Are we being PAC-stamped (for the buses)? Is there a secret pact on the bus purchase? Are we being pecked in submarine deal? Will there be more exposures specially packed for this coming CNY? Will the coming golden tiger be good to the rakyat or to the powers that be? If it is to the rakyat, I will gladly embrace it but if it for the powers that be, then braced for another horrendous year....

To all my Chinese friends - Gong Xi Fa Cai

Till then...G'nite M'sia...wherever u are...