Malaysia expresses deep regret over Norway’s last-minute refusal to approve a guided missile export permit, says minister Fahmi
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian government has expressed deep regret over the Norwegian government’s decision not to approve the export permit for the procurement of missiles from the country at the last minute.
Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said the decision had prevented the Norwegian company involved from continuing with the supply as agreed, even though the procurement contract had been signed since 2018.
He said the contract had been implemented without any issues, with all payments made on schedule.
“The Malaysian government absolutely cannot accept the reasons put forward by the Norwegian government,” he said at a weekly press conference at Angkasapuri here today.
Fahmi, who is also the MADANI Government spokesperson, said the government is currently taking action through diplomatic channels in addition to considering follow-up steps from a legal perspective because matters related to national defence planning involved strategic interests that could not be compromised.
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry has reportedly withdrawn several export licenses related to certain technologies as part of the country’s move to tighten export controls.
According to the website of Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS (KDA), the procurement of anti-ship missiles (NSM) was signed between RMN and KDA in April 2018 with a contract value of 124 million euros (RM571.9 million) to equip six new LCS ships.
The missile has the capability to carry out long-range maritime attacks at high subsonic speeds with a range of more than 300 kilometres.
In another development, Fahmi, when asked to comment on a report on Deputy Finance Minister Liew Chin Tong’s statement regarding the subsidy quota under the Budi Madani RON95 (Budi95) programme, stressed that the report was inaccurate and had been withdrawn by the media company in question.
He said the Deputy Finance Minister’s statement clearly referred to a study being conducted by the Finance Ministry to examine fuel consumption patterns among subsidy recipients, not an announcement of the government’s new policy.
“The Finance Ministry is studying the 300 litre level, how many Malaysians will benefit, 200 litres, 150 litres, 100 litres and when the levels of the study are mentioned, that is what has been misunderstood,” he said.
Yesterday, Liew denied making any new announcements or policies on behalf of the government including the 150 litre subsidy limit under the Budi95 programme.
Commenting on the controversial statement by Pasir Putih Member of Parliament Datuk Dr Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh who was accused of insulting the Prophet’s companions, Fahmi said the Cabinet strongly condemned the matter and left it entirely to the authorities and the Islamic Religious Affairs Department to conduct further investigations.
Previously, a video of Nik Muhammad Zawawi’s speech, which was accused of insulting several companions of the Prophet in a talk in Kuala Terengganu last Sunday, went viral, but he today apologised and retracted the statement after admitting that he was not careful in his delivery.
