Public Tender For Nuri Replacement Soon. How Much Will 'Kickbacks' Cost The Taxpayer?

The government will soon call for an international public tender for the purchase of replacements for the Royal Malaysian Air Force's (RMAF) fleet of Sikorsky S61 Sea King helicopters, better known in the country as Nuri.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said today the process, which the Cabinet has agreed upon, is running 'smoothly'.

The Defence Ministry has discussed the matter with the Economic Planning Unit and the Finance Ministry to enable the acquisition be made quickly, he told reporters here.

"Now, we are making the 'preparations' in terms of the technical specifications only ... the tender will be called soon," he said after visiting the International Media Centre for the three-day Langkawi International Dialogue 2007 which ends Tuesday.

Asked on the allocation for the replacement purchase, expected to take three years, Najib said it will depend on the number of new aircraft required.

On July 18, the Cabinet agreed for the Nuri replacement programme to be expedited by calling for an open international tender following the latest Nuri crash in Genting Sempah, Pahang, in which six RMAF personnel were involved.

It was the 18th incident involving the Nuri which entered RMAF service in 1969. Most of them were due to weather, human and environmental factors as well as technical problems and enemy fire.

The RMAF still operates 30 Nuri aircraft, said to be one of the world's safest helicopters.

The RMAF's plan in 2004 to replace its Nuri fleet with more modern aircraft or at least on par with it under the Ninth Malaysia Planned was shelved last year to give priority to more 'pressing' matters.

***** After a lot of dillydallying, suddenly there is an inordinate rush to purchase new aircraft. According to Najib, the process is running 'smoothly' and acquisition is to be made quickly. It took 18 Nuri crashes for this decision! Better late than never, I suppose.

But whenever the magic word 'tender' is spoken, one must worry about whether this time around the selection will be above board - you know, without 'extraneous' considerations, kickbacks or perhaps another astronaut piggyback ride. How do we ensure that some of the decision makers won't get their greedy paws on a chunk of the budget for this purchase? Any ideas?
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