A French-made SMD Ouessant Agosta 70 class submarine, acquired for training purposes when two Scorpene submarines were bought from France, is now lying as an open-air museum piece in Malacca.
Thanks to blog reader tuakee for the video link. The Agosta was built in 1978-1979 and is believed to have been decommissioned by the French Navy in 2001. It was also believed to have been rehabilitated by DCN in 2004 for the training of Malaysian crews from 2005 to 2009 at the NAVFCO Submarine school at the Centre d’Instruction Naval (CIN) Brest, France.
The Asia Sentinel reported that the Scorpene submarines contract was divided into four components:
According to financial statements, the cost of the program was divided into
four contracts:– The contrat Scorpene, about ?670 million, for two Scorpene submarines, built in France and Spain, and delivered in July 2009 and July 2010 ;
– The contrat Formation, signed in 2003, to train 156 submariners over four years.
– The contrat Ouessant for the rehabilitation of an Agosta-type submarine which has never seen service and is now a museum in Malaysia. The two together amount to 313 million euros/
– The contrat Malsout, provided logistics for the installation of Malaysian navy personnel, over 200 people located in Brest and Cherbourg, from December 2002.
The agreement for the transfer of ownership from France to Malaysia was signed in May 2011.
From the website of the Malaysian Embassy in France:
A signing ceremony for the transfer of ownership of the Agosta 70 type submarine formerly known as FNS Ouessant submarine, from the Government of the French Republic to the Government of Malaysia was held at the Embassy of Malaysia in Paris on Friday, 23 September 2011. The Agreement of the transfer was already signed earlier in Kuala Lumpur on 16 May 2011.
2. At the signing ceremony, H.E. Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Zainal, Ambassador of Malaysia to France represented the Government of Malaysia while Mr. Yves Blanc, Director of International Development, French Ministry of Defence represented the French government. The Embassy’s Defence Attaché, Captain Ismail Abdullah together with Malaysian Embassy officials and French senior navy officials were also present at the ceremony.
3. The Agosta submarine was used for the training of the first Malaysian submarines crews from 2005 to 2009. The training was done following the contract signed by Malaysia for the acquisition of two French Scorpene submarines in 2002.
4. The Agosta submarine will be transported on a floating dock back to Malaysia on the first week of October organized by Felda Transport. It will be handed over to the Malacca State Government which later will be converted into a museum at Klebang.
Embassy of Malaysia
Paris
24 September 2011
The open-air museum in Malacca reportedly cost RM12.5m and has reportedly drawn over 50000 visitors since 1 January 2012 – perhaps curious to find out where our tax ringgit has gone.
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Spent several million to buy ‘junk’ from France, and then put them in the Museum, we must have too much money in our treasury department.
A memorial for the C4ed Mongolian lady?
There should be a gathering at the location to name the Sub Museum as the SYMBOL FOR ALL THE WASTAGE, COORUPTION AND INJUSTICE
BTW, who is behind the museum, any leakages here ?
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This is the case if a nation has plenty of foreign creditors and they demand their money back (with the strong arm support of the IMF, ECB etc)
If the creditors are local, we can expect Zimbabwe-style hyperinflation where the govt just “prints money” to finance its budget deficits. Inflation tax, in other words.
God help us if Malaysian belongs to the first category.
Sheer wastage of public’s money . It ended up as a a piece of junk in less than 4 years of “service”.
And what does a French submarine got to do with Malacca’s history is questionable.
However it does reminds all of us of Altantuya , Malaysian govt corruption and the huge scandal behind the entire deal.
probably next time this submarine museum can be another Jom Heboh festive attraction in Kota Melaka. At night it can be turned into Rumah Hantu (locals now like seram movies these days) where the Mongolian soul lingers …………..
Test test test.
After more than 12 hours, obviously pakatan fanboys don’t read. Anil too, afraid to make conclusion. That AGOSTA is just for training purpose and not the end products. The mighty scorpenes still there protecting our nation.
Right!, all your 1 malaysia’s product and project, the temporary work and supporting activities cost a fortune, sometime even higher than the project and product cost itself.
These temporary and supporting activities, one end up in museum, one had been C4, others, you don’t see it because is temporary and supportive.
Pala, dont bother to reply Gelak K, you think he does not know what is going on within UMNO/BN?
He is not a stupid person but just love to kacau kacau here, that is all.
Correct.
The main purpose of GK’s inane comments is to give the impression that there are plenty of blog readers who support UMNO-BN.
But we know he/she is the only one
on this blog 🙂
Insane as well as inane.
It shall be a monument of our countries corruption and a reminder to future generations of our countries folly.
Ho 🙄 Ho 🙄 Ho 🙄
🙄
Malaysia very rich. Paid BILLIONS RM for a rusted junk and displayed it to show how wealthy or CORRUPTED our leaders r ! Malaysians, how sad our wealth gone to waste. WAKE UP MALAYSIANS!
What is the conclusion for this anil article ???
Draw your own conclusions.
DUMBNO finds various ways to throw away the taxpayers’ money. This is Najib’s way of saying thank you to the French DCN guys for facilitating the commission for the two submarines that were bought at exorbitant cost.
Gerakan Klown, the conclusion is: Submarine is a floating metal can, high in historical value, suitable as a display in museum, that justify it has to be expensive, got it.
Gerakan K must be shivering to read that:
The civil suit against French naval defence giant DCNS filed by human rights group Suaram for allegedly paying kickbacks to top Malaysian officials is gaining momentum, as Suaram lawyers get access to French court papers.
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/193698
We spend good money to buy a piece of junk that the French wanted to throw away and convert it to a museum, to record our development in navy weaponry or our follies?
Don’t be surprise one day this ‘submarine’ may disappear overnight – carted away by people to sell as scrap iron, the same fate as those metal covers of manholes on the roadside.
What is it a museum of? Scandals in Malaysia?
Gherky, got khang tau for you. Sell as scrap and use the money to build more low cost housing. Then your party won’t be lying in state like the submarine.