The opposition had claimed that KD Tun Razak is not capable of diving

KD Tun Razak Scorpène class submarine

Lawmakers invited to see for themselves that KD Tun Razak is truly capable of diving, says defence minister

Come and see for yourself. This was Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's challenge to opposi-tion members of parliament who had questioned the procurement of the Royal Malaysian Navy submarines by claiming they could not  dive.

Zahid said yesterday he had issued the invitation some time ago for the MPs to come aboard the KD Tun Razak during this year's Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace exhibition (Lima).

"As the MPs' comments were all negative, I had instructed my ministry to send out  invitations  to several of them to come and see for themselves that the submarines are capable of diving," he said at a luncheon for the media aboard the KD Jebat.

However, none of the MPs had accepted the offer.

Zahid said only one, Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, had bothered to reply. She had thanked the ministry for the offer, but had not said whether she would take up the offer.

He did not name the other MPs, but the New Straits Times had learned that these included Tony Pua, Khalid Samad and Lim Guan Eng  who are  MPs for Petaling Jaya Utara, Shah Alam and Bagan respectively.

Zahid also announced that for the first time, visitors to Lima  would get a chance to board naval ships at Tanjung Malai.

He said two ships a day would be docked at the jetty, on a rotation basis, for the public to board.

"We want to give the public  a chance to get close to and touch the ships," he said.

Zahid said a ferry would also be made available to take visitors around to view the anchored ships.

NewStraitsTimes