Latest CNNGo.com "Say What? with mrbrown" column: mrbrown and the case of the six billion ringgit ships
Excerpt:
The arms race in the region is certainly heating up.Malaysia is set to spend RM6 billion (US$1.97 billion) on six new Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV). That's a billion ringgit or US$328 million apiece. For ships meant to deal with illegal fishing and smugglers, not warfare, mind you.
Those must be some real bad-ass smugglers packing state of the art heat if you need billion-ringgit boats to deal with them. Damn the illegal fishermen and their nuclear-powered aircraft carriers! (*shakes fist*)
My first instinct was to think, "The ship toilets come with gold taps ah?" recalling a certain Singapore charity that used to have rather expensive taste in bathroom fixtures.
Critics of the purchase in Malaysia have also expressed doubt about the wisdom of the sale, but the navy chief denies the vessels are costly.
I am sure there are many things on those ships that add to the cost. Not unlike those little Perodua Kancil cars that sport spoilers, sport rims and wings, the OPVs must be pimped -- or as we say here, "zhnged" -- to the max. (cont'd)
