Explainer | Day of reckoning? Ship scandal piles pressure on Malaysian PM Ismail Sabri to call for snap polls

Naval procurement deal adds to crisis facing Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration, could implicate top Umno leadership

Non-delivery of six littoral combat ships despite payment of 6 billion ringgit has angered Malaysians and could affect voter sentiment

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Malaysia’s Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob. Photo: dpa

Published: 5:30pm, 16 Aug 2022

Malaysians have been in an uproar over the past couple of weeks after it was revealed that 6 billion ringgit (US$1.3 billion) had been paid for six naval ships that remain undelivered well past the deadline, adding to the crisis facing Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and his nascent administration.

Ismail Sabri, who was made prime minister barely a year ago, has been under constant pressure from his former ruling Umno party to call for early elections after strong showings at two state polls in recent months, in a bid to capitalise on the fractured national political landscape to reclaim power that they lost in a historic 2018 general election.

Protesters hold placards during a demonstration outside a shopping complex demanding the government form a royal commission of inquiry on the controversial littoral combat ship project. Photo: dpa

What the controversy is about

The naval procurement deal, cut nearly a decade ago while Malaysia was still under Umno rule, has come back to haunt the party – and by extension Ismail Sabri, who as prime minister is now responsible for finding a solution to the alleged scandal that may end up implicating some of Umno’s top leadership.

At stake is voter sentiment going into a national election that Umno wants to be held this year, well ahead of the deadline of the third quarter of 2023.

In a report tabled to parliament on August 4, the powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC) highlighted the protracted delay in delivery of the six littoral combat ships (LCS) by local contractor Boustead Naval Shipyard (BNS).

The government and BNS had in 2014 signed a record 9 billion ringgit contract for delivery of the ships, the nation’s single largest defence procurement deal. BNS was to deliver all but one of the ships to the Royal Malaysian Navy between April 2019 and August this year.

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