Posted on by Kit

Why Eurocopter’s Cougar has been selected to replace Nuri

The Prime Minister-cum-Defence Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should set an example of integrity and transparency by making public the details of the shortlisted bids for the four aircrafts to replace the RMAF Nuri helicopters and the reason why Eurocopter’s Cougar EC725 has been selected.

It is a sad commentary on the failure of Abdullah’s National Integrity Plan that Malaysia’s latest ranking on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index has plunged 10 places in his five years as Prime Minister from No. 37 in 2003 to No. 47 in 2008 and a deepening crisis of confidence about integrity and transparency.

Abdullah should be aware that his first act as Defence Minister, announcing that the Defence Ministry has agreed to acquire new helicopters from European helicopter manufacturers, Eurocopter, to replace the Nuri has been immediately dogged by integrity and transparency questions – in particular, the allegation about the involvement of his son Kamaluddin Abdullah in the Eurocopter deal.

It is for this reason that Abdullah should make public the details of the shortlisted bids by the four aircrafts to replace the RMAF Nuri helicopters and the reason why Eurocopter’s Cougar EC725 has been selected.

If no full explanation is forthcoming from Abdullah, I will be raising this issue in Parliament when it reconvenes on October 13.

The Eurocopter Cougar EC725 was one of four aircraft shortlisted by RMAF. The other three were the Sikorsky S92, Agusta Westland EH-101 Merlin and the Russian-made Mil Mi-17 Hip.

It has been reported that the government had allocated US$600 million (RM1.93 billion) to buy an initial fleet of 12 helicopters, which will be in service until 2050.

64 Replies to “Why Eurocopter’s Cougar has been selected to replace Nuri”

  3. Buying Heli at a cost of USD50 million per unit for the replacement of Nuri, why we must buy at one go for 12 units at the price of USD600 million, can’t we buy it at stagger form? Malaysia is still strong in purchasing power ? Because Malaysian work hard to earn the revenue for the ruling regime to tax and purchase at their discretion,enjoy at the citizen’s expend?

  6. YB kit, when u raise this Heli purchase issue at the coming open session parliament, please at the same time submit your proposal of buying ROCKET for Malaysia, because we already had trained ASTRONAUT to fly the rocket to the space, and u can request the government to award DAP to maintance it at MALAYSIAN cost.

  7. If I were a foreign investor, I would definitely shun Malaysia – it is just not worthwhile to waste my time and energy on the business deal knowing that it has already been fixed in advance even before it is being negotiated.

    It was reported recently that Sarawak’s Taib also has relatives benefited from the Bakun Dam project!.

    TDM was right when he said Abdullah’s administration of the country is very much a family business.

  9. Najib bought Submarine at price submerge under the sea bed, everybody complained, as all of us known, the submaraine will never DROWN, will Najib drown because of Submarine? No, he is taking intensive swaimming course to keep himself afloat, and so far so good. Abdullah bought fleet of 12 Heli at SKY PRICE, to avoid be shot down by the M16, he know the Malaysia’s rifle can never reach the Heli range, so, now, he learn how to Fly, and he fly very well. So, uncle kit, you must buy the REAL ROCKET at “SPACE’S PRICE” , and I can assured u ABDULLAH and NAJIB will praise u high.

  10. For the Malaysian Politics virgins among us, in what capacity is his son involved in the deal?

    I don’t know what country has a transparent system for arms acquisition. Anybody got the inside track on the current $6bn US arms to Taiwan? How is public accountability there? I suspect no better, but at least they have flying furniture and headlocks.

  11. ytshum Says:

    Today at 12: 49.32 (1 hour ago)
    Wow , what’s a big SUM , the RAKYAT should briefed of the deal as the money is generated from the RAKYAT ;

    ================================

    What makes you think RAKYAT deserves any explanation? We’ve been feeding the TUANs for 51 years, making them more lazy and racist. No, the RAKYAT doesn’t need any explanation. Go ahead and buy more copters. How about one submarine to patrol each river in Malaysia?

    No, we are just RAKYAT. We do not have the right to question UMNO and the TUANs for using our money. After all, Ahmad Ismail has already given his approval for the purchase.

  15. kalau benarlah terdapat angkara penglibatan keluarga dan imbuhan senang, biarlah haram duit itu, haramlah bila makan duit itu tidak tumbuh secebis daging dan sehelai rambut. dikata keluarganya golongan baik baik dan beriman lagi beragama, biarlah dilaknat ALLAH akan segala perbuatannya dan keluarganya, biarlah dia dan keluarganya dibakar api neraka yang panasnya berkali kali gandanya dari api dunia… biarkan dia rasa… lagi banyak dia ambil lagi panas api neraka…

  16. if he just came off as the Finance Minister, he should know that in current economic conditions, with decades of deficit budget, the first thing he should do with the ministry with the biggest budget is to cut cost and have some money for the country.

    instead, the first thing he do was to buy new choppers. He can’t even use a proper excuse. MISC had ships just being hijacked by pirates and he spend it on short range choppers. He would have a better excuse if he chooses to buy boats.

    first submarines, now choppers. no wonder the pirates are having a field day!

    Malaysia do not need submarines as it is now primarily a nuclear war war fare tool. New choppers maybe because Nuri’s falling off from sky on a frequent basis but should we not look at maintenance and pilot training first?

    We purchase MIGs-29 but what for? I rather we have World War II vintage like F4U Corsairs or P-51 Mustangs because I do not see a need for high performance jet fighters as there are no sovereign treats anymore after the end of the cold war

  17. How many billions of RM from Rakyat have been taken away!
    Yet still lookng for oppurtunity here and there!
    We the Rakyat felt that Enough is enough!
    Many Royal Commissions must be set up to discover all the wrongdoings from BeeNd govt when Pakatan Rakyat form the Federal Govt!

  19. It takes a crook to catch a crook.
    Mahathir did his part…..not for Malaysians….but solely to teach Dollah not to betray the master crook.
    Dollah days are numbered….so he does not care.
    Family benefits come first.
    He is a liar…and the worst PM.
    People’s PM…….my foot!

  20. i heard, many moons ago (from extremely reliable source-insider), that dpm was actually involved in this eurocopter thingy. Now they say pm/family is involved. Which is which now? Someone, please check. The fact of the matter is that eurocopter being a foreign company, was given access and easy approval to occupy choiced land and our local fellas were chased out of terminal 3 just because SkyPak wanted to refurbish it and rent it back to the former occupiers at 5 times the rate!!! Make any sense, you tell me????

  21. no wonder he exchange the ministry of finance wit najib.This eurocopter deal must be lucrative enough for him to give up the finance ministry.anyway he knows he will not last long.He is not a sleeping PM but a cunning one-old fox!

  28. As I have predicted earlier in Kit’s blog, the question whether Abdullah should or should not contest for the president’s post in March 2009 is not an issue anymore because he must have ensured that his and his family’s agendas are accomplished before agreeing to the March 2009 transition deadline. Come March 2009 Abdullah will have “climbed up the river bank” (or “shang an” in Mandarin, which means he has already gathered enough wealth and needs not struggle in the water anymore).

  29. @ lee wee tak’s comment

    [MISC had ships just being hijacked by pirates and he spend it on short range choppers. He would have a better excuse if he chooses to buy boats]

    The eurocopter cougar is no short range helicopter. It is a tactical transport helicopter armed with either a pintle-mounted 7.62x51mm GPMGs or anti-surface unit warfare missiles like the exocet missiles which was battle proven to be highly efficient even against the all mighty great Britain’s naval fleet during the Falkland war in 1980’s. Being able to carry up to 29 troops it makes it the perfect helicopter say in a somali ship hijack incident. The french uses them as well and as far as french army are concerned, they use only the best of equipments for their military from the simple cougar to the leopard II MBT and their flagship Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocopter_Cougar

    [Malaysia do not need submarines as it is now primarily a nuclear war war fare tool.]

    submarines can launch covert operations and reconnaissance without being detected. Would u blindly send your special forces into unknown danger or risk the life of civilian hostages in friendly fire or hostile fire?

    [New choppers maybe because Nuri’s falling off from sky on a frequent basis but should we not look at maintenance and pilot training first?]

    All mechanical equipment or tools have a life expectancy. If you were an engineer you would know. Do you know how old are the fleet of nuri’s Malaysia has?

    [We purchase MIGs-29 but what for? I rather we have World War II vintage like F4U Corsairs or P-51 Mustangs because I do not see a need for high performance jet fighters as there are no sovereign treats anymore after the end of the cold war]

    You are clearly blind to the fact that there are many hostile war/fights going around the world. Lebanon, Hezbollah, certain parts of Africa and east Europe and the middle east are one of the few examples. Even our neighboring countries have conflicts which can only be suppressed by use of military force. What happens if a country tries to invade Malaysia and we do not have the means to defend with ourselves cause we’re using world war II vintage junk. By then it will be all but too late. I say better be prepared than sorry.

    All that being said in my opinion the move to introduce the eurocopter cougar is a good move but with the recent spate of economic instability, is it a good move at a bad time?

  30. A friend told me that this news about the PM and new helicopters reminds him of an anecdote involving the PM, the ex-Works Minister & a helicopter ride, which was circulated via e-mail last year. He has updated that anecdote and the following is the result:

    When Eurocopter sent its Cougar helicopter to be evaluated by the RMAF, Pak Lah wanted to take a ride in it. By coincidence, S.Velu wanted to meet him about the HINDRAF issue again, and so, Pak Lah asked S.Velu to ride along with him in the new helicopter.
    As the helicopter flew over KL, Pak Lah looked down through the window and said, “If I throw out a RM100 note from here, I’m sure I will make at least one Malaysian happy.”
    S.Velu also looked down and said, “That means if I throw out RM1,000 from here, I should make 10 Malaysians happy.”
    Suddenly, the helicopter pilot said, “Why not I throw the both of you out.. because that would make 26 million Malaysians happy..”

    ======

  31. try to figure this,(what a coincidence, India is spending US600 million too but, read this “The Eurocopter Group, a subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co (EADS), almost had the US$600 million 197-helicopter deal in the bag. Technical trials had been completed and price negotiations were in progress with Indian defense ministry officials. The European company was to supply 60 helicopters made in France and Germany over the next three years, with the balance of 137 helicopters to be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) at its Bangalore facility under a transfer of technology agreement.” )
    197 units for the amount. Refer: Malaysia 2day-Why Eurocopter’s Cougar has been selected to replace Nuri .04-10-08

  32. Uncle Lim, please elaborate on this shady deal. Millions of bucks are involved and this is rakyat money. These bums have already milked our money all these years. We want to know the details.
    Bring it up loud and clear when parliament reconvences.
    Enough is enough. This sleepy flipflop guy is greedy to the core.

  33. It will be interesting to find out the deal making behind this award.

    To be fair, technically the Eurocopter Cougar is the best choice for Malaysia. The professional officers in the RMAF did made a good selection. This aircraft is a proven, reliable and versatile platform. There should not be any question on the technical selection.

    Some comments on the other aircrafts:

    1. Agusta Westland – some bad experience on reliability
    2. Mi-17 Hip – Malaysia is shy of Russian aircraft safter poor experience on spare parts
    3. Sikorsky – well, it is American

    Eurocopter is a division of EADS – the giant European defence and aircraft manufacturers – including the Airbus. Of all the parties bidding, only Eurocopter had made investment in Malaysia. They have a maintenance and repair base in Subang, with many Malaysians working there. So, there is no requirement to ship parts overseas for repair.

    All, in all, the Eurocopter is a good selection. For once, the politicans gave the professional military officers what they want and not shove something else down their throats.

  35. If I were the PM and give public projects to my son, I would be terribly embarrassed – I would feel ashamed before 27 million Malaysians!

    It is unthinkable that Abdullah started off as “Mr. Clean” and ends up as “Mr. Greedy”. I hope the role played by Kamaluddin Abdullah in the Eurocopter deal is genuine and will not affect Abdullah and the country’s reputation.

  37. Dear LKS,
    Care to share your source and proof that Kamaluddin Abdullah is involved in the copter deal? In this day and age, I believe all of us must be more critical in accepting anything written on the net or in the newspapers without proper backup.

  38. These bunch of kleptocrat are sprinkling the wealth of Malaysia especially Sabah/Sarawak who lives under misery for 50yrs after Merdaka.

    The so called “U Must Not Opposed” UMNO Dynasty will remains nepotism as long as they hold the seats to robbed the Nation, they’re good in using diversionary tactics with their apprentice such as AI and the Kerisman.

  39. A very logical facts provided by LBJ. Now Saudara Lim task should find out the price paid for the copter, what is the selling price to other buyers. This prices should include consideration whether in terms of financial or non financial. Type of warranty, after sales services, investment and other benefits to the country. The most likely senerio for “am kong” is the consultant fees like RB Scopion, agent commision, technical advice/consultation and offer of directorship/partners/shares as “trade off” to interested party.
    By the way “no matter how sophisticated your weapon is, it will be useless when the leader is corrupted. The enemy could easily buy out all our military secret & strategy from our corrupt leader. B2, harrier, F20E, MOB, patriot and nuclear warhead ICBM or the tomahawk we could be easily annihilated with just a single strike thanks to our corupted leaders .

  40. Najib and Pak Lah will say we didn’t pay the commission…wonder who Eurocopter will pay…Najib and Pak Lah we were not born yesterday..we know how kick back works. another Mongolian BBQ dinner in Europe??

  41. Dear LKS,
    ive been hearing so much bout PM Abdullah son in law and his son kamaludin being the mastermind behind PM decision making,even to the extend to our country national security.
    Expose these culprit in the dewan so that the rakyat can know.

  42. Of the 4 shortlisted helicopters, I would also go for the Eurocopter Cougar which has a far superior record compared to the other 3. In terms of corruption, we can find out (a) who is the Eurocopter representative or agent in Malaysia, (b) whether there is an intermediary company in the purchase and who owns this company, (c) whether there is a long term maintenance contract between the RMAF and an intermediary company and who owns this company.

    Knowing the den of thieves, they would structure the deal as a long term maintenance and training contract with a crony company which then has a back to back contract with Eurocopter. This crony company does nothing but charges a huge sum a year, and they then pay a much smaller sum to Eurocopter for the same service.

  43. insiders’ trading is the name of the game. When you’re inside, you know the rules ( and the pots and the holes and the how to’s). Our hope is high with Pakatan Rakyat. All these nonsense must come to a stop. Everybody must play their part. These and other abuse/ misuse of public fund must be made known to public. The biggest challenge is how do you tell the ignorant rural folks who pecks at the handouts of UMNO? ah, do you know also that the police force rented out wajas at rm 3000 per unit per month for five years ?

  44. Signing off deals for relatives/associates before the end of on tenure is a long time tradition in Malaysian cabinet. It has actually happened for a long long time.

    Before Dr. M left office, among deals he signed off include gas-stations for his sons, SMART Tunnel, etc..

  45. LBJ…..Presuming UMNO chosed the right aircraft.
    But UMNO have a track record…to choose the best commission for the middle man.
    No commission….no talk.
    Just look at all those lousy thousands of items…used by the government. So many..poor workmanship and low quality materials…yet…the tender price…is few times higher than normal prices.
    UMNO do have this track record!!
    Best commission given….win the tender……and Russians are desperate to sell and can give kickbacks…much better than anyone nowadays.

  46. Pak Lah “lip services” since 2004 until today have caused enough is enough bullshits to all Malaysians. He told all Malaysians to cut expensive spendings due to high inflation. But Pak Lah endorsed the govt to purchase sky high Eurocopters with lavish spendings on taxpayers’ funds and without transparency and open tenders.

    Malaysia’s latest ranking on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index has plunged 10 places in his five years as Prime Minister from No. 37 in 2003 to No. 47 in 2008 and a deepening crisis of confidence about integrity and transparency. Tun Dr M said in HardTalk that Pak Lah needs to step down because of his UMNO/BN leads corrupt government. The purchase of Eurocopters need to be explained in details to all MPs and public to ensure no corruptions involved here.

    A huge USD 600 millions lavish spendings for EuroCopters …many questions are raised here ? Who negotiated such deals ? Any inflated prices including rocket commission involved in this dirty closed door dealing ? Malaysians have the rights to know ?

    It is timely Pakatan Rakyat to change the Fed Govt ASAP to open up many dirty billions missing in closed door deals since Tun Dr M and Pak Lah regimes. Similar YAB LGE discovered few dirty projects and mismanaged public funds by Gerakan Govt for past decades ruled in Penang. When Unlce Kit to become CAT Minister under DSAI’s PM leadership soon ? Both DSAI and Uncle Kit still dreaming ?

  49. Like I said earlier, it is not only the commissions on the RM 2 billion purchase that the den of thieves is eyeing. It’s the ongoing maintenance and “training” that will produce an annuity income for the thieves that could run into hundreds of millions of ringgit.

    Typically, a Melayu company Kroni Sdn Bhd will enter into a JV with Eurocopter to provide spare parts, routine maintenance, and training services for up to 30 years at an annual fee of hundreds of millions of ringgit. Of course Kroni Sdn Bhd will provide the local services, but will be entitled to the lion’s share of this annual fee, while Eurocopter will just provide spare parts and specialised maintenance for a fraction of that annual fee.

    Kroni Sdn Bhd will pay extraordinary dividends to its shareholders (who will be members of the den of thieves) who will then use the proceeds to invest in properties in Perth, London, Sydney, etc. Some of the proceeds might just be earmarked for GE13.

  52. What’s the difference between this deal and the recent Maybank purchase of Bank Internasional Indonesia at a whopping 4.6 times book or the announced construction of the Murun Dam in Sarawak ?

    The commonality in all these cases is that BN cronies stand to gain from deals that are UNNECESSARY in today’s uncertain global economic climate.

  53. YB., surely you can find out the cost of such machine and do an apple to apple comparison. I suppose just like cars being sold overseas, you can have a choice of added items. In today’s world unless open tenders are practised, under-counter arrangements will be the order of the day!.
    If Mayban’s offer for the Indo Bank is way above ‘normal’ ratio, thenthe Bank Management should at least explain the basis of its decision! Likewise, ABB being the Menteri Pertahanan owes Malaysians an ‘open’ explanation for the decision!!

  54. It will be up to YB LIm and his PR colleagues in Parliament to scrutinise the terms of the purchase to see that these are fair and that there are no leakages. Maybe they should get PAC to audit the purchase before the contract is signed rather than after contract signing. The goverment should come out to be transparent and accountable. The choice for the Eurocopter Couger is a good one. Therefore there is no reason why this should not be done/

  55. Good Choice to purchase at the right price, we call it value for money, if Indian’s rupee can buy more units of Eurocopter at the same price like us, why don’t convert Malaysian ringgit into Indian’s rupee?

  56. Even the pirates can get weapons cheaper then us.But then again we have pirates in the UMNO led BN Government.With the world wide web.We can get the actual cost of the HELI.Yet the UMNO led BN Government still thinks that we stupid.

  57. EVERYONE HAVE FORGOTTEN THAT NAJIB IS SUPPOSED TO HEAD THE INVESTIGATION ON THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ISSUES IN SABAH. AFTER SO MANY MONTHS, WHAT IS THE OUTCOME OF THE PROBES? NOW WE ARE HEARING ABOUT A MORE SERIOUS PROBLEM … ILLIGAL IMMIGRANTS WITH MYCARD !?! IS NAJIB ALSO RESPONSIBLE TO LOOK INTO THIS AS WELL?????

    THE PEOPLE OF SABAH ARE PLAIN STUPID TO ALLOW THE ABOVE TO DETERIORATE TO SUCH AN UNHEALTHY STAGE !!!!

  60. Good!
    But Kit, you either need a proof reader or an editor:

    “the details of the shortlisted bids by the four aircrafts”

    Aircraft doing the bidding or bidding for aircraft, please?

    [Thanks Alan. I confess having computer reading problem. Discerning blog visitors should have discovered many proof-reading mistakes. I need your help to point them out to me. – Kit]

  61. http://www.avtoday.com/rw/commercial/offshore/1733.html

    According to the above article (9th paragraph), each Eurocopter Cougar EC725 cost roughly 33million Eur, assuming the rotorcraft is equip with customized military equipment.

    33 mil Eur will be equivalent to USD44.86m.

    If the RMAF was to acquire a fleet of 12 choppers, aren’t we entitled to some good discount? Mind you, 12 choppers is only an initial purchase. Instead of getting discount, we are paying some USD5mil plus more for each chopper. And just what kind of customized military equipment are we fixing on the rotocrafts anyway to take the choppers price tag to its highest chargeable figure?

    Fello Malaysians, it is pretty plain to see isn’t it? Another PM from UMNO and his crony is sucking our blood again.

  62. “The military EC725 can cost in excess of 20 million euros because of the need for specialized equipment, he said.”

    In excess of 20 million Euros usually means 21, 22, or 23 million Euros, so where does the 33 million Euros come in ?

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