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Yoursay: Mat Sabu right to tell truth about poor state of our defence
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YOURSAY | 'Telling the truth is better than to lie and steal money from the taxpayers.'

Must Mat Sabu not tell the truth?

Anonymous 539021434646766: So, Defence Minister Mohamad (Mat) Sabu's detractors think that it is all right to tell the soldiers that they have the best weapons when in fact these are faulty guns, ships, tanks or planes?

Good job, defence minister. Now, protect our soldiers with the best there is.

Anonymous 2460341488439214: This is a well-argued article that puts to rest the suggestion that Mat Sabu must be coy on the truth in Parliament. Those who want him to be coy don't know defence issues at all.

Anonymous_f37de788: Tell the truth, please let the people know how bad the situation is. As mature people, we can handle it, and we can work together and help overcome the shortfall.

It is better than to lie to us and steal money from the taxpayers and let the country rot, like what past leaders had done, who only knew how to instil hate and division among the people by using race and religion.

Shovelnose: External threats are not immediate in the mid-term. Even if our defence forces' assets are all fully functional at the moment, I doubt it would suffice in deflecting many of the potential neighbouring threats.

We can't even keep up with the pirates and private army incursions in the east coast of Sabah. In fact, I believe we face a much bigger threat internally, and you do not need air support to extinguish these.

Funny 1M: Remember when Sulu militants invaded Sabah, how long did the then-defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein take to mobilise the army? They even had to hire AirAsia cargo planes to transport helicopters.

Where were our overpaid fighter planes and why did they not use them? Probably, they were all are under repair or were missing their engines.

Rubystar_4037: I agree in totality the views as presented by Malaysiakini columnist Phar Kim Beng. We have to come clean on defence matters.

Anyway, as there is no immediate clear and present danger of any external enemy on the front, hence, there is no worry that we are under threat if we lay bare our preparedness for battles.

Mat Sabu did the right thing, as the previous defence ministers had all left the security of the country in a very dismal state.

Dark Times: Firstly, Malaysia is not going to any war. Indeed, Mat Sabu did what was right, and honesty is the best policy.

Lying can lead to more compounded lies, as what has happened to the 1MDB scandal. The Malaysia Baru mindset must reign supreme.

Anonymous_1421806811: Foreign intelligence agencies, with their network of international alliances, know the strengths and weaknesses of the military of countries of interest. Just as Mat Sabu knows the military power of Vietnam, Vietnam also knows the military situation of Malaysia.

There is, basically, little that can be hidden. But as the author correctly pointed out, it is good to tell the actual situation rather than be disappointed when faced with a real conflict - although it is highly unlikely we will go to war with any country in the near future.

In this 21st Century, small nations don't go to war with one another. Their real threat is from big superpowers, and history has shown us that if superpowers want to go to war, there is very little small countries can do about it.

David Dass: Malaysia must re-think its whole defence strategy. It must re-think the purpose of our armed forces.

Singapore and its former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew believed that Singapore was confronted with the real threat of unfriendly neighbours.

There were those in Malaysia who saw Singapore as an integral part of Malaysia and were unhappy with former prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman's decision to expel Singapore from Malaysia.

And the constant call by some Umno politicians for water supply to Singapore to be terminated did not help. Lee Kuan Yew used the threat mostly imagined to introduce national service with the objective of toughening and building up the resolve of his people.

He called on them to “gird up their loins, and prepare for battle”. That is no longer necessary today.

Today, it is clear that nations of Asean should be considering closer economic cooperation to build up our economies, instead of arming ourselves to the teeth in preparation for war with unseen enemies. There are no serious issues among Asean nations.

Claims on disputed territory should be resolved through arbitration or litigation through the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or other such tribunals. There is much to be gained through economic cooperation, and nothing from military conflict.

Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia are still stuck in debilitating wars within their borders. As for the rest, the only obstacles to growth are incompetence and corruption.

Over the years, Singapore and Malaysia have made the most progress. Indonesia is now poised to make a great leap forward under its present president.

We do not need Sukhoi jets. They are expensive toys to be used only for flypasts on National Day. We don't make them. Heck, we cannot even service them.

Let us give up the game that Third World dictators love to play. Especially those in the poorest countries in the world. Forget fighter jets, and tanks and war games. Build homes, hospitals, schools and universities.

Build up the economy. And live in peace with our neighbours.

Not Stupid: Continuing the debate of whether we treat a spade as a spade or follow the Bad Old Days and paint everything in rainbow colours, even if it was all stinking and rotten, is a waste of our time.

We are past that already, as we have already replaced black with white.

The game now is misinformation. The opposition has no more issues to talk about and they know it, we know it, and the only strategy left for them is to try to convince the ignorant that black is actually good, GST is good, SST is no good, the reason for the bankrupt government is not us, the Anti-Fake News Act is for our own good, Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) is to protect us and the 1MDB scandal did not happen, and it is a lie also.

They argue about these things continuously and they hope it will be believable enough to change public perception - that is the game.

And those so-called experts and analyses try to beat down the truth with half-truths, trumpeted by pro-opposition newspapers like New Straits Times, which no one reads as it is an assault on our common sense.

To ignore them is to acknowledge them, to debate them would surely be futile, as they would spill more lies and the government would have a propaganda war on its hand.

Public opinion is now the new battlefield.


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