Kementerian pertahanan KORUP, tentera sengsara!

Several former military personnel, who claimed to have spent decades in the force, today shared stories of how corruption within the Defence Ministry had left soldiers hanging out to dry.

According to one man who spoke to Malaysiakini on the sidelines of a forum of corruption in the defence industry, irregular practices had left soldiers with amputated legs, with many now “suffering in silence”.

The man who refused to be named for fear of retribution, also said that civilian personnel had thrown their military recommendations aside to purchase sub-par equipment which put lives at stake.

Referring to an unnamed operation, he said, “We bought the AK 33 machine gun which jammed up after three rounds, so much so that soldiers were throwing their weapons to the ground and charging with parangs.”

In another instance in the 1970s, he said, soldiers suffered infections which led to amputations when their boots - which were supposed to protect their feet from spikes in booby traps in jungle warfare as they trudged through the rainforest - failed to do so as they rusted and became “a block of rust”.

The boots rusted because zinc plating was used instead of aluminium.

“In another instance, ponchos were of such bad quality that they left soldiers soaking. I was in the jungle crying in the cold because someone had made money somewhere,” he said at the Transparency International event in Subang.

The man alleged that bad quality food was supplied to the personnel and officers who rejected the food for their staff would be posted elsewhere as punishment.

“They don’t care. I believe it still continues. It is the soldiers who suffer,” the man said.