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A *laughing stock went missing

Wed, Dec 23, 2009

Opinion

BLOGORHYTHMS

By YL Chong aka Desiderata

Yesterday I picked up fellow blogger Art Harun’s “Ladies and gentlemen, and the award goes to…” for posting at FMT, after getting his kind permission of course. My collaboration with Art started about two years ago at my previous workplace, the Centre for Policy Initiatives.

Now when Art announced wryly the “Award” introduction, and after the drum-roll that I only imagined, he did not state for what or which category, as would normally follow at the Emmy, Golden Globe and Oscar ceremonies amidst the Hollywood glitz and glamour.

For the past few days, online media including bloggers have reported extensively on the 1missing jet engine, then 2missing jet engines, then more jet parts and components vanishing into thin air, Malaysian and foreign. The potentially RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone has not yet left the people’s radar screen, and Boom! yet another bombshell hit our consciousness. We were no longer caught by surprise — we now react with satirical standups and scripts fit for some evening relaxation because these Reality exposes happening right before our eyes have more entertainment value than the dramas churned out by RTM, which a former Information Minister acknowledged in his book was indeed used by his ministry as a propaganda machine during his watch.

So what “Award” ceremony does Art have in mind? I can venture a guess because quite often, tongue-in-chic bloggers’ minds often clash, or think alike, mostly with similar outcomes. Call it “Joker of the Year” in the ordinary RTM style. Or…

Laughing Stocks

In blogospheric minds, we abandon crass Bayi jokes to go to a higher plane – yes, where jets fly! — humour often laced with sarcasm, a trait I often admire in writers such as Oscar Wilde, and even leading blogger Dr Mahathir Mohamad though my pick of the latter may earn some readers’ ire here, but do you think I care a hoot? (You may throw a pie back at Desi’s face though via Comments because at FMT, we are pretty democratic!)

In my occasional digs at Malaysian personalities and institutions, I created for them a place in the former KLSE, now renamed Bursa Malaysia, under a category named “Laughing Stocks,” which command premium prices because they are mostly “out of this world!”

Okay, to put the subject in perspective, I quote from Art’s opening paragraphs:

“The theft of not one, but TWO F5-E fighter jet engines from the Royal Malaysian Air Farce, eh sorry, Air Force, perhaps aptly defines the year 2009 as far as Malaysia (1 or otherwise) is concerned.

“The absurdity of it all. And not to mention the audacity of it all. And as if to further add sodium chloride to the wide gaping wounds that all of us, Malaysians, suffer every time our so called leaders forget to take their medications, we are told that so and so have been sacked or told to leave their job, some even earning pensions and whatever.”

Yes, many commenters and bloggers took similar digs at the latest episodes on the Malaysian jesters’ stage, whether PWTC or Wisma MCA, which I characterised in the past two days’ blogposts as David Copperfield’s magical acts — do you remember that episode when he made one “Boeing jet disapppear into thin air”?

I didn’t realise the reality was closer than I had written as mere punch-in-the-stomach dig at those rascals who have been robbing our public coffers; it dawned on me that a blogger who hailed from serving as an army doctor would quickly uncover more than the latest “two jet-engines have gone missing” fiasco.

Rafick Khan Abdul RahmanIndeed, a whole fleet of aircraft have gone missing! That is according to the latest revelations Dr Mohamed Rafick Khan (picture), aka Dr Rafick, whom i have been interacting with for some time in cyberspace.

I have commented at his blog — rights2write.wordpress.com — especially on his incisive CSI Series on Teoh Beng Hock’s mysterious death; and only a week ago, I chatted with him for the first time by phone when the Public Works Department’s report on the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide was made available to the public after declassification from the Official Secrets Act (after lots of pressure by protest lobbies including Dr Rafick, I must add.)

In his latest post titled “Hello Chief: Where are the skyhawks!” dated Dec 21, 2009, Dr Rafick recalled his conversation with a retired Air Force General about the missing F5E jet engine. He was intrigued when the general told him that there is nothing to be shocked about a missing engine when an entire fleet of aircraft went missing from the TUDM inventory.

“Entire fleet of aircraft! What was he talking about? I thought he was kidding and making his usual jokes about aircraft missing from the radar screen but when he said that it was missing from the TUDM inventory, that led me to place few more calls,” Rafick narrated.

It appears that via a special Government-to-Government arrangement, the Malaysian government bought 80 A4 Skyhawks from the USAF in the 1980s. It was delivered to us at the beginning of 1984. These are working aircraft with plenty of mileage to go. Thirty five aircraft was brought back to Malaysia and were used in the service. A few dropped from the sky, one went missing over the South China Sea (Lt. Wahi) and the rest were used until they could not be used again. Some became spare parts. The balance (45 jets) were left in the California dessert, parked under the scorching sun. They were never brought back.

I sought Dr Rafick’s permission to summarise the rest of his narrative, viz:

“The 45 aircraft that were left in the Californian desert were never brought back. They were placed under the management of a company in the US. This company ended up paying for the parking charges for years. Sometime between the years 2000 and 2003, RMAF decided to take back the aircraft and sell them off. The TUDM officers from KL were sent to look for the aircraft in the desert. They found the planes but the shocking part is that they (TUDM) no longer legally own the aircraft.

“As it turns out, the paperwork involving the purchase went missing and the Air Force was not able to show proof of ownership. Therefore they could not take out the Skyhawks from the open air parking area. The haggling and tussle over the ownership continued for several years until it became clear that the aircraft ownership could not be ascertained. The Malaysian government paid for them but did not keep the receipts.”

Yes, Dr Rafick agreed with Desi that the General friend did remark such scandals always attracted the sarcasm attached to the label of “Malaysia Boleh!” He was tickled when I said I would go along with Art Harun’s proposed Award, and I had in mind a KLSE listing under “Laughing Stocks”!

Coming back to the missing RM50 million engine, now multiplied by two, which was to be fixed on a US$2 million aircraft, Dr Rafick said he was perplexed to read in the papers that a Brigadier-General and his 40 men were asked to leave service early. “Sounds like Ali Baba and the 40 thieves!” he added.

But they were not charged. There was no court martial. It appears the General and several others lost their pensions but upon appeals got them back. “What the heck is wrong with the system?” Dr Rafick asked.

But both of us are relieved at least that the Armed Forces chief, Tan Sri Azizan Ariffin, in confirming the case as reported by the NST, had also said that the case was the “tip of the iceberg.”

Dr Rafick said he was acquainted with this Chief and described him as an “honourable and honest” man. I end this column on an optimistic note that something good will come out of this latest “laughing stock” that went missing episode.