a day ago
Sub deal raises questions
Of course, the armed conflict between Cambodia and Thailand at the border reminds us about the sacrifices soldiers make. Of course, we know that the country needs a stronger army, and that a strong army needs better weapons and equipment -- not to mention decent welfare and treatment.
Despite the situation at the border, lawmakers must remain vigilant when scrutinising the army's budget spending. Casualties of war -- or the fear of them -- are not and should not be grounds to hand a blank cheque to the armed forces.
It is worrying that this might be the case for Thailand in precarious times. As the border skirmish with Cambodia continues and ultra-nationalism takes hold, the military keeps asking for more weapons, while the government asks fewer questions and seeks to appease.
A glaring example of this is the latest development in the controversial submarine procurement project.
This week, the Royal Thai Navy officially announced that it would permit Chinese shipmakers to fit a Chinese engine in a 13.5-billion-baht S26T Yuan Class submarine for Thailand, despite the fact that the seller would be violating the original contract over engine specifications by doing so. The green light was given by Phumtham Wechayachai when he was the defence minister, before he was named acting prime minister.
Instead of fitting a German-made engine or one stipulated in the contract, the seller, China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co (CSOC), is offering a protocol model recently used by the Pakistani navy.
Military equipment enthusiasts might not understand why the engine cannot simply be replaced. The answer is that the navy has made a contractual demand to purchase proven technology for its first submarine in eight decades.
What is more worrying is that this leeway will set the tone for future sub procurement projects. The Royal Thai Navy planned to purchase three submarines from CSOC under a government-to-government deal. The contractual violation, however, forced the navy to scrap the deal for the other two. It remains a big question why the government did not cancel the entire deal instead and find a new supplier. Even worse, the navy kept buying related equipment, such as tug boats and even uniforms, from China to use with submarines it didn't have yet.
This newspaper has been questioning this dubious procurement -- not because we prefer a particular brand or country. We believe that public procurement projects must be transparent and accountable. Any contractual changes must be verified and agreed by parliament -- not a closed-door meeting.
But this is not the case with the dubious sub deal. Bombarded by the media over this sub deal, Mr Phumtham simply becomes coy. "It is classified... we do not discuss arm procurements during wartime," he says. This laughable explanation is not acceptable. Arms procurements -- especially this one -- must be vetted by parliament, and pertinent details must be made available to taxpayers in the country.
This project will set a bad precedent for future procurement projects. It would not be a surprise if this leeway will encourage the armed forces and the government to revise other contracts after being pressured by foreign governments to do so. It is expected, too, that arms procurement contracts in the future will be liable to changes. And this will not create the strong military that Thais want to see.
