London sentry misssion under fire

(The Sun) PETALING JAYA (April 7, 2008): The government’s decision to spend about RM2 million to send 122 members of the Royal Malay Regiment (RMR) to serve "London public duties" for two months has come under fire.

“It is a waste of taxpayers’ money,” Federation of Consumers Association vice president K. Koris said today.

“We should be looking at protecting our country instead of thinking about sending our troops to guard Buckingham Palace,” he told theSun.

“We have more pressing issues here and they could use our army to look at guarding our borders from illegal immigrants instead of spending money to send them to guard Queen Elizabeth.”

He said the illegal immigrant problems in Malaysia is a growing one which should be handled and resolved by guarding the borders.

“There is no logic at all for them to go over there and waste so much money,” he said, adding the whole idea is a joke as there is no need for the team to go all the way to England to learn when they can do it locally.

“This is another example of the government wasting taxpayers’ money, when daily expenditures are rising for the people,” he said.

He said the government could have used the money to subsidise certain goods or help the poor.

He was responding to an announcement by Malaysian Armed Forces public relations acting director Kol Fadzlette Othman Merican that the 122-member team will leave on April 16 for a two-month tour of duty at a cost of RM1.9 million to cover the insurance, attire and flight tickets.

The team will be guarding Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace, the Tower of London and also Windsor Castle.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, who is also the defence minister, defended the decision to send the team as a recognition for Malaysian soldiers.

He said it was a recognition for the soldiers’ credibility, as the Chief of General Staff of the United Kingdom, Sir Richard Dannat, had been impressed with them during a visit here recently.

“He saw our capability, the way our soldiers marched, so he proposed that we be given this honour. I take it as an honour for our Malay Regiment. It is not about guarding the palace but about the recognition. That is important,” he said.