Ah, the realm of possibilities...
Certainly. One just needs to remove the single-most obstacle to achieve everything: oneself.
BTW F-35 looks swanky, and is swanky and all; but it has too many political hiccups for us. Tejas is the best example why and how. Though you Malaysians are pretty tight with US aren't you? Having F-18 Hornet in your air force. So why not consider JSF as a future replacement?
Malaysia is an emerging power and with your prosperous economy, it shouldn't be a problem to keep 1 squadron of F-35s as the high end jets for starters, later adding to them slowly as you grow further.