http://rsi.com.sg/en/programmes/newsline/2003/05/23_05_02.htm
A look at Malaysia's plans to purchase Russian Sukhoi
fighter jets
23 May 2003
Malaysia has agreed in principle to buy 18 Russian-made Sukhoi
fighters in a deal valued at US$900 million.
While the contract for the Sukhois is likely to be signed this
year, Malaysia is also in talks with the Boeing Company to purchase
18 Super Hornet fighters.
Reports indicate Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has monetary
reasons as well as political ones for sitting on the Boeing
deal.
While Boeing is left waiting, several European leaders who agreed
with Malaysia's anti-war stance have begun visiting the country to
build diplomatic ties and win lucrative contracts.
For more on this, Augustine Anthuvan spoke to Associate Professor
Brian Farrell, military historian from the National University of
Singapore
and first asked him about the criteria used by countries like
Malaysia when purchasing military aircraft
"Governments can rarely afford to give the airforce the
professional luxury of making a decision which is based only on
technical and operational considerations. There are too many other
interests involved. This is going to be big news, its going to get
a lot of media coverage, a lot of tax payers money is going to be
spent. A lot of jobs are at stake. The fortunes of a lot of big
companies are at stake and many of these big companies have
important government backing which brings political considerations
into play in a variety of different countries. So a purchase like
Malaysia's US$1 billion plus purchase of Russian fighter aircraft
triggers always inevitably a bidding war. And the familiar players
are all there, the big American aircraft companies, the French, the
Russians, etc. They all want the business. No government, Malaysia
or anyone else, can ignore that aspect. None of them can ignore how
this will be connected to their foreign relations. None of them can
ignore how it will be connected to their economic considerations,
how much money can they have spent on assembling this package in
their own country for instance as opposed to spending it all on
buying the equipment off the shelf from the foreign supplier. Those
decisions are always in the end made by elected officials and they
look at other things. Malaysia is doing that. It is attempting to
strike a balance between how much money it has available, what its
airforce needs, what it can function most efficiently with, and how
it can best use this purchase to help promote its goals in
diplomacy and foreign relations".
From what I understand in reports, the Defence ministry has
either overspent or nearly exhausted its $2.8 billion allocation
after heavy outlays on French submarines, British and Russian
air-defence systems, Polish tanks, guns for the troops and new
naval bases. How is Malaysia going to manage halfway through a
five-year economic plan,? Are they going to resort to some
form of contra payment - perhaps palm oil?
"Even if they resort to some sort of a barter arrangement, palm oil
for planes. That's still going to have an economic impact. That's
palm oil that they're going to have to give away instead of selling
for hard currency to somebody else. Its going to have an economic
effect and there isn't any clever slate or hand trick that they can
use to avoid that. There are really only three things that they can
do. One, swallow the necessary cost as an unavoidable expense of
defending the country and promoting their foreign policy goals.
Two, Make it possible to spend that money by cutting some other
aspect of military spending. Or three, defer the cost to the point
where it becomes nothing more than a book keeping matter. That the
eventual expense will be incurred over 15 to 20 years and its in
effect putting the problem off for a successor government to face
another day.There is no way to avoid that, palm oil isn't an
answer".
The purchase of these weapons from Russia, its more than just a
defence purchase, it also building a sort of relationship. And I
understand Russian President Putin is expected to visit Malaysia
sometime before October. So how do you see relations between
Malaysia and Russia, bouncing off the rest of the region
here?
"Malaysia of course is not comfortable with the increasing profile
of the US in South East Asia. Its ambivalent about this, of course
on the one hand it shares much common ground with the Americans
when it comes to the war on terrorism, particularly terrorism as
pressed by intolerant fundamentalist groups claiming to be fighting
in the name of Islam. Malaysia has a domestic political problem of
its own in that respect. But on the other hand, the differences
that the Malaysian government now have with the American government
are outweighing their common ground. Malaysia remains very upset
about the American led war on Iraq, it believes that America has
pursued a clumsy and excessively physical foreign policy in its war
on terror. That its increased its presence in the region in an
unfriendly way which is expanding American influence to the
detriment of ASEAN when it comes to defence policy and foreign
policy. And obviously if it can take steps to pursue some sort of a
counter weight to American influence in the region, it will be
considering them. Reaching out to the Russians, pursuing a trail
thats already been blazed by going on with purchasing Russian
weapons to replace earlier older Russian systems that Malaysia
already has. That can be presented as not an abrupt and radical
change in policy. They've already done business with the Russians.
But its also unmistakably a signal to the Americans that there are
other people who can supply the kind of equipment that Malaysia
needs and other powers whose agenda isn't necessarily identical
with the Americans, who might be willing to align themselves with
those who want to complain about American agendas or challenge
American policies".
Associate Professor Brian Farrell from the National University of
Singapore speaking with Augustine Anthuvan.
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Does anyone have a breakdown on the cost (or kickbacks - depending
on how you look at it) of each set of military purchases? What is
their total allocation for Malaysia's defence budget of their
5-year economic plan?
