Scandal: "Ahmad Mustapha: Mahathir bought Sukhois made by India with Israeli components simply because he wants to get the kickbacks prior to ... "
"Mahathir the #1 Anti-Jew warrior a.k.a Palestinian Jihadist bought 140 substandard Sukhois (Su 30 MKI) made by India with Israeli components using zillions of taxpayer money simply because he wants to make sure he gets the commission prior to being booted from the office. Had Mahathir wait a little longer, we would have gotten one of the world most advanced Sukhoi 35 fighter jet with the same money, and minus the Israelis components."
KnAAPO/Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker E of the Russian Air Force
March 17, 2011
Ahmad Mustapha responds to A Doctor in the House
by Ahmad Mustapha Hassan@www.themalaysianinsider.com
The newly released memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad makes a brief reference about me, his nephew, having stopped talking to him because I had failed to get the Sukhoi fighter jet supply contract.
Heres what the Tun wrote on page 21 of his new book:
Some of my relatives who failed to get anything are still not on speaking terms with me. In one case, my nephew Ahmad Mustapha, a journalist, attempted to go into business. He tried to persuade me to buy what he said was the Sukhoi 35 aircraft, and I told him any decision to purchase would depend on how good the aircraft was. When I made inquiries from a Russian, he said there was no Sukhoi 35, only the Sukhoi 30 which India had. The mark 35 version had yet to be produced to this day.
I even asked Russian President Vladimir Putin about it since I wanted the best for our air force. But he confirmed they did not have the 35, so our Government decided to buy the Sukhoi 30. Mustapha thought I had personally frustrated him and until today, he doesnt talk to me. These are hazards of public office, and my relatives displeasure must be endured.
This is far from the truth. Some explanations are given here to correct the twisted and distorted picture given in the book.
I was representing KNAAPO of Komsomolsk-un-Amur, a Russian government company that had been supplying fighter aircraft to theRussian Air Force, including the Sukhois. It is a very big defence company with its own test pilots.
All planes were given thorough checks and flown by its renowned test pilots before certification was given and the fully tested aircraft handed to the buyers. The Russian Air Force was its biggest client.
It also supplied Sukhois to the Peoples Republic of China, in the region of a few hundreds. It also permitted a factory under license to be set up in China for the production of Sukhois for the PRCs air force. All the Sukhois were the Su 27s. In 2000, it supplied PRC with 10 Su 30 MKK.
Being a company specialising in the manufacture of advanced fighter aircraft, it naturally embarked on trying to produce a more sophisticated fighting machine. During that period when Malaysia was interested in equipping its air force with Sukhois, the company was doing research to produce future versions of the Sukhois, namely the Su 35 and by 2007 a prototype was produced.
It made its test flight on February 19, 2008. At that time the aircraft was not meant for any consumer use yet. It was then still under the research and design stage.
But today, the Su 35 is an advanced superior fighter aircraft, based on the Flanker (Su 27/30). It is considered to be one of the worlds most advanced fighters.
KNAAPO was therefore the foremost defence aviation company in Russia! . It is wholly owned by the Russian government. The acronym KNAAPO, stands for Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aviation Production Association.
KNAAPO offered the Malaysian Defence Ministry its tested Sukhoi 30s for consideration. I arranged for them to give a presentation to the officials of the Ministry of Defence in Jalan Padang Tembak. A group of defence and aviation experts came over and congregated at the office of Rosoboronexport, at Jalan Ampang Hilir, before departing to the Malaysian Defence Ministry. The KNAAPO version was known as Su 30MKK.
A good presentation was done.
In Russia at that period of time, there was another very significant aircraft company that had been privatised but was involved in producing civil and military aircraft. It was a very old company that was set up in 1932.
It was known as Irkutsk Aviation Industrial Association. But by this time it had been privatised and the president of the company was Alexei Fyodorov. He was a very aggressive businessman and had the backing of the Russian government.
Vladimir Putin, then Russian President, was not in favour of KNAAPO supplying the Russian made advanced version of Sukhois to other countries apart from PRC and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. KNAAPO had supplied Vietnam with Su 27s.
IAIA (Irkutsk Aviation Industrial Association) was privatised in 1992. It managed to have a joint production arrangement with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the supply of Su 30 MKIs to the Indian Air Force. The deal was signed in 2000 to manufacture 140 such aircraft.
Dr Mahathir when he was Prime Minister visited the KNAAPO establishment in August 1999 and he was interested in the Sukhoi aircraft. A presentation was made to him to illustrate the capability of the aircraft. It was the Sukhoi 27 that flew for the demonstration. It showed its capability in doing the cobra stance.
But as said earlier the Russians were interested in pushing the products from IAIA. Thus in 2003 Malaysia signed an agreement to purchase the products by IAIA. The MKM version was a derivative of the India/Russia MKI.
The MKI, however, was said to have components apart from Europe, Russia and India but also from Israel. Thus an extra cost had to be borne by Malaysia as in this instance the components from Israel had to be got rid of.
I lost in trying to market the Russian version which would eventually have allowed us to buy the superior, updated version when it was commercially available from KNAAPO but the Russians wanted Malaysia to buy the products from the company in Irkutsk for something that was mix and match and not value for money.
Su 35 was still at the design and research status and still not for sale, not even for the Russian Air Force. That was a modern, superior standard aircraft and we could have acquired them if we had bought their earlier version and Malaysia would be standing tall for having some of the most sophisticated aircraft of the time and our air force would stand out in the world. Alas!
I am not, therefore, disappointed about the Su 35. That is one part of the story.
In 2003, I and a friend flew to Rio de Janeiro in the hop!e of meeting Dr Mahathir who was then visiting Brazil. Our intention was to get his blessing for us to do a pilot project by using one government office to show how cost could be minimised in the use of the air-conditioning.
Possibly, he felt that we had nothing important to talk to him about and we would only be wasting his precious time. While others were bringing in proposals valued in the region of millions and billions of US dollars, what can these two talk about?
We two were dismissed without being given any chance at all. Since that date in 2003, I felt that I had been given the cue that I was nothing but a nuisance to him.
As the Kedah people would say Kalau orang dah tak berkenan, buat apa dok hemui lagi. This, if literally translated, would be if he does not like you, you persistently busy yourself for what.
My not talking to Dr Mahathir has got nothing to do with the Sukhoi deal. It was the way he treated me and my friend especially me.I am, of course, a nobody but I had to keep my dignity to my friend and that was shattered.
Mahathir Mohamad the #1 Anti-Jew warrior a.k.a Palestinian Jihadist
- bonology
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