Where have the money and weapons gone?

COMMENT "It is clear that unnecessary spending, such as the proposed purchase of more submarines and combat aircraft replacement programme involving billions of ringgit, are relatively less important compared to the urgency to address the budget deficit and weaknesses in public finances." So said Gerakan secretary-general Mah Siew Keong.

It is disappointing that this member party of the BN has failed to go beyond the budget deficit in citing huge defence expenditure.

Figures from the 2011 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) annual report show that the world's governments are spending more than ever on the military: US$1,630 billion (RM5,270 billion) a year - and rising. If spent differently, this money would go a long way to resolving the real challenges facing our planet, such as poverty, access to education and health care, climate change, and so on.

In response to this trend, April 17, 2012, was declared a Global Day of Action Against Military Spending.

Sirpi revealed in April 2012 that the volume of worldwide arms transfers from 2007 to 2011 was 24 percent higher than the 2002-06 period. Asia was the biggest arms importing continent for the period of 2007-11. Five countries from the region, India, South Korea, Pakistan, China and Singapore, in that order, accounted for 44 percent of all global arms imports for the period covered.

Sipri also estimated that India is likely to spend more than US$100 billion on weapons in the next 15 years. Likewise, China will increase its defence budget to around US$106.41 billion in 2013.

The rapid development of the arms trade in Asia led to the coining of the phrase 'Amazingly Armed Asia' at a Bangkok conference in January 2012 , said Cesar H Villanueva, an academician from the Philippines at a conference on the Arms Trade Treaty on April 19 last year in Subang Jaya, Selangor.

A participant at the same conference stated that many countries go to great lengths and incur huge expenditure amid great secrecy to purchase arms that are never used. For example, the Royal Malaysian Navy purchased Exocet missiles from France, but not a single one was fired against an enemy.

The participant added, "We have imagined enemies rather than real ones. Is this money well-spent? All the sophisticated aircraft that the Malaysian Armed Forces have bought are merely used for the Independence Day flypast. This costs the taxpayers many millions of dollars, which could be better spent for the welfare, dignity and upkeep of the average citizen."

Corruption and global trade in arms

The Defence and Security Programme of Transparency International-UK (DSP TI-UK) has estimated that the arms trade accounts for 40 percent of world corruption. Former South African parliamentarian Andrew Feinstein in his brilliant book, The Shadow World Inside the Global Arms Trade, describes how weapons from the legal market end up in the illegal market.

Feinstein now lives in London because he looked too closely at a number of South African defence deals. It provides a very good overview of how these mechanisms work and the strong role that corruption has in facilitating the diversion of arms.

Will we ever see the day a Malaysian Member of Parliament turning whistleblower on the arms deals and budgets in Malaysia?

According to Feinstein, arms-related corruption is a global cancer, affecting everyone from America's defence giants to Africa's poorest countries. As Feinstein and many anti-corruption activists state, there is simply too much political money tied to defence contracts to force politicians to demand transparency and accountability in defence expenditure and budgets.

In the TI-UK's DSP Defence Anti-Corruption Index released in Taipei on Jan 29 this year, Malaysia was placed in Band D - alongside Bnagladesh, China, Kazakhstan and Rawanda. Taiwan was in Band B.

The incidence of corruption in defence and security is reflected in various ways:

• A 2006 survey by the risk consultancy Control Risks showed that roughly one-third of international defence companies felt they had lost out on a contract in the previous year because of corruption by a competitor;

• Another report from the US Department of Commerce claimed that the defence sector accounted for 50 per cent of all bribery allegations in 1994-99, despite accounting for less than 1 per cent of the world trade; and

• It has been estimated that bribes accounted for as much as 15 percent of the total spending on weapons acquisitions in the 1990s.

Research by the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) shows that from 2005 to 2011, public procurement was among the top four sectors for corruption in the national and local governments.

The ICW in 2012 exposed irregularities in the pricing of six Sukhoi planes purchased by Indonesia from the Russian government. ICW received information from whistleblowers in the army and support from the Indonesian public to peruse the matter.

Feinstein says the unregulated arms market is fundamentally immoral. It is responsible for organised crime, fuels conflicts and kills innocent people.
The UN Arms Trade Treaty: Malaysia yet to sign
In 1995, a group of Nobel Peace Prize laureates headed by Oscar Arias Sanchez of Cost Rica launched a campaign for a more responsible arms trade. They received the support of civil society in the programme, as well as those working in the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.

Parliamentarians have raised their concerns too. "We are concerned that the international trade in arms, when undertaken irresponsibly or diverted to illicit markets, contributes to armed conflict and armed violence. This often results in serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, internal and cross-border displacement, terrorism, organized and common crime, and the facilitation of the illicit trade in narcotics."

On April 2, 2013, the UN General Assembly adopted the landmark Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to regulate international trade in conventional arms, from small arms to battle tanks, combat aircraft and warships. The treaty will foster peace and security by putting a stop to destabilising arms flows to conflict regions. It will prevent human rights abusers and violators of the law of war from being supplied with arms. And it will help keep warlords, pirates, and gangs from acquiring these deadly tools.

The treaty was open for signatures on June 3 ,2013. Malaysia has yet to sign it.

Role of civil society

The role of civil society is key in countering corruption in defence and security as Indonesian corruption watch has shown. Will Gerakan turn whistleblower?

Malaysian NGOs, like Suaram and activist academicians such as Kua Kia Soong, who have for years raised concerns over increasing expenditure and many unanswered questions on irregularities in arms purchases in Malaysia's defence sector, need public support to stop their continued harassment by authorities.

In a recent interview , Feinstein stated: "Mobilising ordinary people is what is crucial here. As a former politician, I know that the only way to hit politicians where it hurts is through votes. Activism is also made much easier today through social media. The Occupy and Arab Spring movements of the last few years have provided credibility to modern day activism."

JOSIE FERNANDEZ is an anti-corruption and environmental activist. She has worked with Transparency International-UK Defence and Security Programme in recent years to counter corruption in the defence sector through research, training and advocacy. She was present at the launch of Defence Corruption in Taipei in January this year.