Auditor-general's report be damned

Remember last year's auditor-general's report on government contracts and procurements for over-priced computers and furniture? a set of jacks for many times more than what you can buy off the shelf? Well, now how about a defence contract worth over RM8 billion tentatively to be awarded to a local company (DRB-Hicom BHd's wholly-owned unit Deftech) for 257 armored personnel carriers (APCs) priced at around RM31.12 million each APC, which is about 6 times more expensive than an American make or about 3 times more expensive than a German-Dutch make? Yaaaay! we can afford it! And we can build our very own too! It's ok that they cost several times more than tried-and-tested APCs available in the open market, cos what's important is we be self-sufficient, right? who cares about comparative advantages or our lack of it as such? We have our own national car already, now let's start on the big bucks department, military hardware and equipment! Hmmm, if we bought it for say a third of RM8 billion, we'd save about, say conservatively estimated, over RM5 billion? RM5 billion would buy a heck lot of schools, hospitals, public services, right? Naaaaaah! Let's just throw money around like it's going out of fashion. after all, there's lots lots lots more where that came from. Auditor-General's report be damned.