Third point YES I agree with you on they copying us. .. but,
they are being smart about it .. they are not buying the MOST
expensive stuff on the block. They are also willing to discuss a
barter trade (for palm oil) they are willing to look at alternate
suppliers (South Korea and Poland) and they are also insisting on
technoloigy transfer and building the thing in Malaysia (subs) So
all in all who has a better policy?
Yes, but we are not stupid either. Since when do we buy the most
expensive stuff? we could have gone for top of the line fighters,
ie F15s, or expensive US frigates and destroyers. They are willing
to discuss barter trade mainly because they CANNOT afford to pay in
hard cash for their purchases, there is a difference. Singapore has
also tech transfer as one of its requirements, however the US is
not cooperating with Singapore on that issue, thus forcing us to
source our armaments from other countries, namely France and more
recently, Russia. Singapore Technologies has a division dedicated
to building local military armaments. Our rifles, Missile
Corvettes, Landing Ship Tank, Armoured Fighting Vehicles, amongst
others, are all produced locally. So economically there is a
balance. Policy? Malaysia's policy, to me, has always been "talk
loud, talk big, never mind if we don't have the
money."[/b][/quote]
