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Malaysia Defence & Economy Forum

So your government hasnt yet allowed foreign workers to enter Malaysia ? I heard there is shortage of 7500 workers based on recent Fitch Rating analysis

What is the composition of labor in the industry based on ethnicity ( Malaysian, Indonesian, Bangladeshi) ?
We have a work force of 15 million (2020 estimate),
- about 1.6 million in government civil service,
- more than 3 million foreign labour workers in labour intensive industries like construction, agriculture and manufacturing.
- Locals are mostly in service industries like banking and finance, retails, telco etc.

2014 statisic on Labour force break down by industries are
Agriculture 11% (mostly foreign workers)
Industry 36% (mostly foreign workers)
Service 53% (almost entirely locals)
(sorry, no updated figures beyond 2014)

Malaysians in general avoid hard, dirty and dangerous jobs, foreign workers filled in these job places.
 
Oops! JF-17 did not participate in the contract tendering...

The interested bidders are understood to be Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) partnering with local company Kemalak Systems Sdn Bhd to offer the FA 50 jet fighter; Turkey Aerospace Industries, offering its LCA known as Hürjet; China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corp (Catic), with its L-15 fighter jet; Italy’s Leonardo, with its M-346 planes; India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, with its Tejas fighter; and Aerospace Technology Systems Corp Sdn Bhd — which is 71.43%-controlled by Tan Sri Ahmad Johan’s National Aerospace and Defence Industries Sdn Bhd (Nadi), 23% by a company called Russian Aircraft and 4.76% by another Russian outfit Rosoboronexport — offering MIG 35 planes.

Six companies bidding for RMAF LCA contract | The Edge Markets
 
Proton Car's X70 SUV export to Kenya. X70 is a made in Malaysia right hand drive version of China's Geely car.

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Malaysia’s Proton X70 Becomes Kenya Police Force’s Official Vehicle (msn.com)
 
Oops! JF-17 did not participate in the contract tendering...

The interested bidders are understood to be Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) partnering with local company Kemalak Systems Sdn Bhd to offer the FA 50 jet fighter; Turkey Aerospace Industries, offering its LCA known as Hürjet; China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corp (Catic), with its L-15 fighter jet; Italy’s Leonardo, with its M-346 planes; India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, with its Tejas fighter; and Aerospace Technology Systems Corp Sdn Bhd — which is 71.43%-controlled by Tan Sri Ahmad Johan’s National Aerospace and Defence Industries Sdn Bhd (Nadi), 23% by a company called Russian Aircraft and 4.76% by another Russian outfit Rosoboronexport — offering MIG 35 planes.

Six companies bidding for RMAF LCA contract | The Edge Markets

Any comment on this ? Look like there will be a cooperation on Hurjet.

Nice office

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One of TAI's strategic priority goals is to increase the number of its employees from 10,000 to over 20,000 on a global scale. As a result, new offices started to be opened in Asian (muslim) countries. Malaysia is one of the countries that Turkey sees as a natural ally. In other words, it is not necessary to be a fortune teller to know that good mutual relations will continue for decades, regardless of global political climate. Therefore, it is possible to say that the office in Malaysia, just like the Pakistan office, is just the beginning and that both the number of employees and the share of work in these offices can increase tens of times.
 
The contract tender has been closed. we just need to wait for the declaration from Malaysian MoD who will be the winner.

But it could be a long wait, and frankly I just don't know where our government will get the money to fund this light weight fighter jet program, may be we can pay by palm oil instead of cash.
 
The contract tender has been closed. we just need to wait for the declaration from Malaysian MoD who will be the winner.

But it could be a long wait, and frankly I just don't know where our government will get the money to fund this light weight fighter jet program, may be we can pay by palm oil instead of cash.

Nah. only 16 planes for LCA program is not that much, Indonesia bought another 6 TA50 Golden Eagle without such drama.....

If Malaysia choose Hurjet then it will take much longer time to get the plane, even there is still doubt on the engine side, there is no confirmation from GE on Turkish order, so I believe Malaysia will likely choose TA50 Golden Eagle from KAI, Malaysia I believe has consider KF21/IFX for their future fighter

 
Turkey plans to jointly manufacture 'Hurjet' with Malaysia if tender process successful


CYBERJAYA, Nov 24 -- Turkey plans to jointly manufacture the country's home-made Light combat-trainer jet, "Hurjet", with Malaysia should the tender process be successful, said the President and Chief Executive Officer of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), Prof Temel Kotil.

He said this is an effort to strengthen the global aviation industry in their respective regions, and that 15 jets will be built in Malaysia and another three will be built in Turkey should the tender process be successful.

“We want to contribute to the capacity building of Malaysia to produce such aircraft as we see Malaysia as one of the best countries to collaborate with strategically in Asia-Pacific.” he told a press conference after attending the new Turkish Aerospace’s office opening ceremony officiated by Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, at Cyberview Futurise campus, here, today.

Hürjet is an Advanced Jet Trainer and Light Attack Aircraft. According to the company, it is a single engine, tandem-seat with modern avionics and high-performance features. The aircraft’s first flight is forecast for the last quarter of 2022.

Commenting on the new office, Kotil said the Turkish Aerospace office in Malaysia will be the company's first engineering and design office in Southeast Asia, where the company will continue its investments and collaborations in Malaysia for the development of new generation technologies, particularly in the field of defence industry and aviation.

Meanwhile, Azmin, in his speech, said that the bilateral linkages between Malaysia and Turkey continue to grow from strength to strength.

"In fact, as recently as last week, officials from MITI, led by my Secretary General, were in Ankara, Turkey, to meet with Turkish trade officials to negotiate the expansion of our existing Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

"Once concluded, the expanded FTA will also cover trade in services, investment and electronic commerce. I am pleased to share that the talks last week made substantial progress and both sides are now on track to conclude the text-based negotiations by the end of this year, and finalise the entire package of the FTA by the middle of 2022," he said.

The minister said as of June 2021, a total of 13 manufacturing projects with Turkish participation have been approved with total investments of RM510.4 million, adding the government will continue to focus on attracting high quality investments which have elements outlined in the National Investment Aspirations (NIA) framework.

Meanwhile, Ambassador of Turkey to Malaysia Dr Merve Safa Kavakci, in her speech, said that there were only 62 ongoing defence industry projects in Turkey in 2002, and today the figure has surpassed 750. "Turkish Aerospace should be seen as a highly valued beacon of knowledge, experience and excellence."We are pleased to see that Turkish defence industry companies are engaged in many solid cooperation projects in different parts of the world, including Malaysia," she said.

-- BERNAMA

 
Found an article in 2019, posted here.


Cover Story: Can the civil service be downsized?
Cindy Yeap
The Edge Malaysia
October 03, 2019 16:00 pm +08

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on September 23, 2019 - September 29, 2019.
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MALAYSIA needs to trim the civil service by one million employees to 600,000 to reach South Korea’s 1:50 civil service-to-population ratio. That’s impossible unless the 640,000 teachers, doctors and nurses in the country are not counted as civil servants, data from the Ministry of Education (MoE) and Ministry of Health (MoH) show.
The RM55 billion required to remunerate the 834,109 civil servants at the MoE and MoH alone accounts for 67% of the country’s RM82.045 billion emolument bill for 2019, expenditure details from the Ministry of Finance show.
Immigration officials, the police and the army — who fall under the Home Ministry — account for 300,000 civil servants and a RM15 billion salary allocation. Together with teachers and medical personnel, these frontline service personnel make up about one million civil servants, nearly two-thirds of Malaysia’s 1.6 million-strong civil service. Most of them have key roles but technology advancement means that these employees will need to be retrained for new roles.
It remains to be seen if prisons and correctional facilities — where there are 23,462 civil servants who will be paid more than RM1 billion this year — can be privatised or corporatised into a real estate investment trust (REIT), something that has been done overseas.
It will be hard to reduce the civil service to one million people — the size when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad ended his first tenure as prime minister in 2003 — which would improve the civil service-to-population ratio to 1:32 from the current 1:20, which is reportedly among the highest in the world. The ratio is reportedly 1:71 for Singapore and 1:11 for Indonesia.
A more likely working figure for Malaysia in the medium term is perhaps 1.3 million, a 300,000 reduction that would bring the ratio back to the 1:25 reported in 2003 when the country’s population was 25 million. Today, the population stands at 32.58 million (including 3.2 million non-Malaysians).
The government has said it will not expand the civil service and is considering privatisation to reduce the civil service emoluments bill. It cannot allow the civil service emoluments and pension bill to increase at previous rates. If government revenue can somehow rise more than 10% a year, the government could well be able to continue paying the emoluments and pension bill, simple projections based on earlier 10-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) assumptions show. Yet, the government may still be in a deficit situation with limited fiscal muscle if its other expenses rise faster. The current 10-year CAGR for revenue is less than half of what is required, at only 3.87% per annum.

50% income on 7.5% population
In 2003, the civil service wage bill was RM21.72 billion, 23.4% of government revenue. It ballooned in the past decade from 27% of government revenue in 2009 to 35.4% of normalised government receipts this year. The absolute amount doubled in the past decade from RM42.8 billion in 2009 to RM82.04 billion this year, which is larger than the entire company income tax receipt of RM70.2 billion.
Altogether, including pensions and gratuities, 47% of government revenue has been spent this year. In other words, nearly half of government revenue has already been spent on part of public service delivery and just 7.5% of the country’s population, given that there are 1.6 million civil servants and 834,000 pensioners and beneficiaries in 2019.
Emoluments and pensions and gratuities were just under 30% of government revenue in 2003.
Pensions and gratuities payment to civil servants and their dependants, which was already rising as baby boomers retired, spiked 22.7% year on year to RM18.2 billion in 2014, just after the government instituted an automatic 2% annual pension hike in 2013 without needing to wait for any salary review.
A review of the current defined benefit model for public pensions is also long overdue to ensure sustainability, especially as the population ages and Malaysians live longer.
Incidentally, the youngest of the baby boomers (those born between 1944 and 1964) will reach the age of 55 this year. As the retirement age was moved from 55 to 60 on July 1, 2013, all baby boomers will only reach the official retirement age in 2024. The oldest among Generation X (those born between 1965 and 1979) will turn 55 next year, reaching the current retirement age of 60 in 2025. The younger Gen X and the generations after it will likely be more pressured over retirement savings compared with the baby boomers, given that asset price inflation only skyrocketed following the era of global cheap money after the global financial crisis.
In March, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said Dr Mahathir would make the announcements relating to the privatisation of the civil service or roles when the time came.
Lim also said the privatisation of some civil service roles will not result in civil servants losing their jobs, noting how workers were absorbed into the corporatised Telekom Malaysia Bhd in the 1980s. The civil service might have another 100,000 employees today if it were to include the work force of Telekom, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Malaysia Airlines Bhd and Petroliam Nasional Bhd.
It remains to be seen if the consolidation of roles, agencies and, perhaps, even ministries, as speculated with the Cabinet reshuffle, will free up the government’s fiscal space for more productive spending, which is necessary to ensure that Malaysia continues to have strong fundamentals to support the economy.
So far, Dr Mahathir has been talking down expectations of generous salary adjustments for civil servants in the Pakatan Harapan government’s second national budget, relating how the country is now paying for the past government’s largesse to “buy the loyalty of civil servants” by “cutting down on development”. In July last year, the new government halted a civil servant pay hike promised by the previous government that would have cost some RM1.5 billion.

Can the 300,000 positions be found?
Some excesses have been cut by eliminating “non-essential bodies” that Dr Mahathir said had been set up by the previous government to pay loyalists “huge salaries that could reach tens of thousands of ringgit” every month. The current government says it cannot afford to pay those salaries.
Allocations for several agencies that were cut soon after the current administration took over in May last year amounted to more than RM440 million, a back-of-the-envelope calculation shows. These agencies include the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), whose duties have been taken over by the Transport Ministry. SPAD was allocated RM40 million in 2017 as well as 2018 (previous administration), none of which was listed under emoluments under the federal government expenditure estimates but was counted under grants and transfers.
Other agencies that were reportedly consolidated or cut include the National Professors Council (MPN), the Malaysian External Intelligence Organisation (MEIO), the Special Affairs Department (Jasa), the Residents’ Representatives Committee (JPP) and the Village Development and Security Committee (JKKK).
JKKK and JKKKP were originally allocated RM303.89 million in grants and transfers for 2018 under the Ministry of Rural Development.
Some may recognise MEIO — formally known as the Research Division of the Prime Minister’s Department — as the little-known spy agency that made the headlines in August last year after the leaking of a letter dated May 4, 2018, by former head Datuk Hasanah Abdul Hamid to the US’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Gina Haspel appealing for the US’ support for former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s administration.
The Research Division, which came under security management, was allocated RM60.47 million for 2017 and 2018 (previous administration), of which RM46.53 million was for emoluments for 321 positions. This works out to an average salary of RM144,938 a year or RM12,078 per month. Meanwhile, MPN, which was also under the Prime Minister’s Department, was allocated RM8.6 million for 2018.
Disbanded on Oct 15, 2018, Jasa was under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia and allocated RM30.02 million in 2018, of which RM12.85 million was for emoluments for 272 positions and the rest for supplies and services. Some 300 civil servants under Jasa were reportedly redeployed while 800 officials under contract were terminated.
It remains to be seen how many more agencies can be cut going forward and how much savings can be obtained.
At 94, Dr Mahathir may well be the only Malaysian politician who does not have to fear that a necessary move involving the civil service will be “political suicide”.
The 14th Malaysian parliament, which convened under the Pakatan Harapan government on July 16, 2018, will sit for five years if it is not dissolved earlier. A general election must be held within 60 days of its dissolution. That means GE15 must be held by mid-September 2023. By then, Dr Mahathir — who was first sworn in as prime minister at the age of 56 on July 16, 1981 — would be 98. That’s 27 years more than the average life expectancy of 70.8 years for a bumiputera male in Malaysia.
With the meeting of two election promises — lowering the voting age to 18 and automatic registration of eligible voters — a new group of voters has been created. About 22.74 million Malaysians will be eligible to vote in GE15 — including 7.8 million new voters who will be automatically registered over the next five years — thanks to the passing of Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019 in parliament on July 16. The new voters include 3.9 million youth aged 21 who have yet to register as voters.
In GE14 (May 9, 2018), the turnout was 82.32% of 14,940,624 registered voters.
 
Malaysia keen on buying Kuwait’s Hornet fighter jets
By Mike Yeo
Dec 23, 07:33 PM

27F6BKQ2PBFTVFZHT67ECPFEAE.jpg
A Royal Malaysian Air Force F/A-18D Hornet is pictured following a mission during Exercise Pitch Black 2018 in Darwin, Australia. (Mike Yeo/Staff)
MELBOURNE, Australia – Malaysia is hoping to buy Kuwait’s entire fleet of Boeing F/A-18 Hornet multi-role fighter jets, although discussions between both governments over the sale have yet to begin.
Speaking during a question-and-answer session in Malaysia’s parliament, the country’s deputy defense minister Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz said the southeast Asian country is seeking to purchase the Kuwaiti Air Force’s fleet of 33 jets “lock, stock and barrel.”

He noted the Kuwaiti Hornets are still in good condition with relatively low flight hours and adding them to the Royal Malaysian Air Force, or RMAF, inventory “will definitely increase the level of preparedness and capability of the RMAF in safeguarding the country’s [air]space.”
He also added the country is planning on operating the type till 2035.
Malaysia currently operates a fleet of eight F/A-18D twin-seat fighters in the air defense and strike role, serving alongside 18 Russian-built Sukhoi Su-30MKM Flanker-H jets. The Hornets were acquired in 1997 and have been upgraded over the past decade.

The incremental improvements include the integration of the Joint Helmet Cueing System, AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile and satellite-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions as well as the addition of the Link 16 datalink.
Kuwait is seeking to dispose of its fleet of F/A-18C single-seaters and F/A-18Ds, 40 of which were acquired in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War. The small Persian Gulf emirate is currently taking delivery of 28 Eurofighter Typhoons and a similar number of F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters.
Malaysia has evaluated the Super Hornet and Typhoon alongside the French Dassault Rafale as it flirted with the procurement of a new multi-role combat aircraft. However, budget problems have meant the country’s Russian-built MiG-29 Fulcrum interceptors have been quietly withdrawn from service without a replacement.
The country has instead put its emphasis on acquiring a new light combat aircraft to replace the RMAF’s fleet of Hawk 108 jet trainers and Hawk 208 light combat aircraft, which also date back to the late 1990s and have suffered from a series of crashes and accidents.

Acquiring the Kuwaiti Hornets would allow the RMAF to beef up its existing, albeit understrength, inventory of the type with eight aircraft being short of a typical fighter jet squadron’s strength of at least 12 aircraft.
However, should Malaysia be successful in acquiring the Kuwaiti jets, it’s likely to need to refurbish the Kuwaiti jets to bring them in line with its existing fleet of Hornets to ensure fleet commonality.
The desire to boost Malaysia’s air defenses have added impetus with the widely publicized flight of 16 Chinese transport aircraft over a disputed South China Sea shoal in late May. The Chinese jets approached to within 60 miles of Malaysia’s coast and prompted the RMAF to scramble Hawks in response.
The country would likely face competition for the Kuwait Hornets from other interested parties, however, as Tunisia is also reportedly keen on buying the jets. Any potential buyer will also need U.S. government permission to complete the sale.


 
Malaysia keen on buying Kuwait’s Hornet fighter jets
By Mike Yeo
Dec 23, 07:33 PM

27F6BKQ2PBFTVFZHT67ECPFEAE.jpg
A Royal Malaysian Air Force F/A-18D Hornet is pictured following a mission during Exercise Pitch Black 2018 in Darwin, Australia. (Mike Yeo/Staff)
MELBOURNE, Australia – Malaysia is hoping to buy Kuwait’s entire fleet of Boeing F/A-18 Hornet multi-role fighter jets, although discussions between both governments over the sale have yet to begin.
Speaking during a question-and-answer session in Malaysia’s parliament, the country’s deputy defense minister Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz said the southeast Asian country is seeking to purchase the Kuwaiti Air Force’s fleet of 33 jets “lock, stock and barrel.”

He noted the Kuwaiti Hornets are still in good condition with relatively low flight hours and adding them to the Royal Malaysian Air Force, or RMAF, inventory “will definitely increase the level of preparedness and capability of the RMAF in safeguarding the country’s [air]space.”
He also added the country is planning on operating the type till 2035.
Malaysia currently operates a fleet of eight F/A-18D twin-seat fighters in the air defense and strike role, serving alongside 18 Russian-built Sukhoi Su-30MKM Flanker-H jets. The Hornets were acquired in 1997 and have been upgraded over the past decade.

The incremental improvements include the integration of the Joint Helmet Cueing System, AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile and satellite-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions as well as the addition of the Link 16 datalink.
Kuwait is seeking to dispose of its fleet of F/A-18C single-seaters and F/A-18Ds, 40 of which were acquired in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War. The small Persian Gulf emirate is currently taking delivery of 28 Eurofighter Typhoons and a similar number of F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters.
Malaysia has evaluated the Super Hornet and Typhoon alongside the French Dassault Rafale as it flirted with the procurement of a new multi-role combat aircraft. However, budget problems have meant the country’s Russian-built MiG-29 Fulcrum interceptors have been quietly withdrawn from service without a replacement.
The country has instead put its emphasis on acquiring a new light combat aircraft to replace the RMAF’s fleet of Hawk 108 jet trainers and Hawk 208 light combat aircraft, which also date back to the late 1990s and have suffered from a series of crashes and accidents.

Acquiring the Kuwaiti Hornets would allow the RMAF to beef up its existing, albeit understrength, inventory of the type with eight aircraft being short of a typical fighter jet squadron’s strength of at least 12 aircraft.
However, should Malaysia be successful in acquiring the Kuwaiti jets, it’s likely to need to refurbish the Kuwaiti jets to bring them in line with its existing fleet of Hornets to ensure fleet commonality.
The desire to boost Malaysia’s air defenses have added impetus with the widely publicized flight of 16 Chinese transport aircraft over a disputed South China Sea shoal in late May. The Chinese jets approached to within 60 miles of Malaysia’s coast and prompted the RMAF to scramble Hawks in response.
The country would likely face competition for the Kuwait Hornets from other interested parties, however, as Tunisia is also reportedly keen on buying the jets. Any potential buyer will also need U.S. government permission to complete the sale.



This has been debunked by the Kuwaiti government. Apparently, the Kuwaitis just want to keep their jets and use them more since they are reported to be under-utilized (think about it, what would the Kuwaitis use it for - probably just to keep in touch with the techniques and keeping their training current).

No sale of Hornets to Malaysia: Kuwait
 
Malaysia will soon retire their Hawk squadron, the planes will be replaced gradually by their new LCA planes.

 
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