Street protest over LCS fiasco to be held this Sunday
11 Aug 2022 02:46pm
A street protest over the controversial littoral combat ships (LCS) will be held in Kuala Lumpur this Sunday.
The organisers - Jawatankuasa Protes Mana Kapal LCS? will be making three demands during the 'Where are the LCS ships' protest.
The first is to urge authorities to show prove of the six ships worth RM9 billion.
"Our second demand is to ask H20 to resign," it said referring to Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein.
The third demand is to ensure the security of the country is not compromised.
"We urge political parties, NGOs, the public to take part in the protest," it said in a statement shared by Muda co-founder Amir Abdul Hamid in his twitter account.
The statement added that those found guilty should not be protected.
It further said they are calling for Hishamuddin to resign "as he should take responsibility over the scandal. He has failed to reply to the issues of the scandal sincerely," it further claimed.
The protest will be held Infront of Sogo Shopping Centre from 2pm on Aug 14.
This is the second protest being held. The first was the #Turun protest on July 23 with over 100 participants holding placards and banners gathered outside of Sogo for about two hours.
So far the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has called on former defence and former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to reply over the missing ships.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has asked the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to probe the matter. He has also promised to declassify the governance, procurement and finance investigation committee’s (JKSTUPKK) report on the littoral combat ship (LCS) project chaired by former auditor-general Ambrin Buang, will be made available to the public.
Dewan Negara is also expected to debate over the matter.
On Aug 4, the PAC announced it had found that the government had paid a total of RM6.08 billion for the LCS project, but not a single ship was delivered.
According to the original schedule, as of August 2022, five ships should have been completed and handed over to the Royal Malaysian Navy.
Instead, the cost of the LCS has increased 50%, bringing the total cost of the project to RM9 billion.
Armed Forces Pension Fund CEO Ahmad Nazim Abdul Rahman yesterday said that RM6 billion spent on a bulk purchase of equipment to build six LCS was less expensive than buying them individually.
He also confirmed that the vessels were being built at the Lumut shipyard, Perak.
