Tun Dah Merajuk

If you're wondering why, he is peeved over the failure of the national car, and understandably so, as that was his baby. I am, sadly, old enough to remember the first ever Proton that rolled out sometime in the mid 80s.

It sent our spirits soaring, boosted our hopes, flung ambitions high -- and it also dashed some dreams, frustrated some aspirations, and frankly disappointed us.

Oh Proton, you could have been so much more.

Alas, but Proton was why the average Malaysian could not afford a decent car, because there was so much protectionism in way of tariffs on any imported car. To make matters worse, it appeared that Proton had haemorrhaged its good engineers and was devoid of creative design inspiration when it proposed designing an Islamic car.

I have nothing against religion, but I hardly think there is a market for Christian, Buddhist, Hindu or Jewish cars anymore than there is for Islamic cars.

The Japanese and Koreans emerged from humble beginnings to become serious automobile manufacturers. We were supposed to "Look East" and emulate them, but alas, Proton didn't quite scale those heights.

Dr M describes how the Austins and Morrises of yesteryear have largely disappeared from the market despite being popular European cars.

I could go one step further and rubbish BMW for its drivetrain issues and Volkswagon for its emission scandal. Oh, and let's not forget Audi, whose CEO was arrested over the same issue.

European cars are so yesterday, while American cars are mostly crap and not even worthy of a scandal.

No doubt my readership may wish to disagree, and I am open to being schooled on this subject, if said readership is convincing enough.

But back to the topic of a national car. Dr M asserts that Japan's and Korea's success with their cars has led to their high quality of life, wealth, improved technology, robust economy etc -- if we had followed suit, we would be in a better place than we are at the moment.

I suspect that that is a spurious argument as Japan has a massive deficit, possibly even worse than the US (and that is saying something). Many Japanese have adopted a minimalist lifestyle which suggests that they are not entirely content with the ostentatious way of life. Behind that veneer of perfection is a troubled economy.

"Nevermind," says Dr M, "Malaysia is a nation of consumers, rice planters and fishermen. That's what we want and that's what we get."

A bit unfair, methinks. The world needs more farmers and food producers. What it does not need is more fossil-fuelled cars polluting the environment.

The trend these days is to invent electric cars, not just hybrids. Fossil fuels are going out of fashion, and even power generation has veered towards renewable energy: hydro, solar and wind.

To get about, we should be walking or cycling, not driving.

When it comes to producing traditional cars, ladies and gentlemen, that ship has sailed.

We could become a hugely successful and prosperous nation, but if we do, it wouldn't be because of cars.

Terengganu's New Rides

I got the heads-up over this issue at Rocky's Bru, where he had, tongue-in-cheek, called it Progress In Terengganu.

For those of you who aren't too familiar with our political administrative machinery, let me give you the low-down on this entire story.

Terengganu used to belong to PAS, prior to the recent elections. Frankly, it should be the richest state in Malaysia, as it has a tremendous wealth of oil reserves, off its shores.

But in good ole Bolehland, the federal government belonging to the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional, takes all the royalty and metes it out on its own discretion. And to punish the people of Terengganu for voting in PAS, they were denied of the royalty for years.

Now that Terengganu is back in the hands of Barisan Nasional, the administration is making some fancy purchases. This led Rocky to question if this oil royalty was the money with which they were buying their new rides - some very nice Mercedes E200 Kompressors.

They have since denied it, an effort which has led to a series of other bumbling faux pas. The Mentri Besar's words on why Terengganu bought Mercedes cars:

“Please understand that the Proton Perdanas go through continuous long-distance journeys. It’s costing us a lot of money due to high cost of maintenance.

“We are not saying that the national car is not good but in reality we are coughing up more money for maintaining the Proton Perdanas, particularly the gear boxes,” he said.

Ahmad cited the example of the Proton Perdana of state Commerce, Industry and Environment committee chairman Toh Chin Yaw, which has twice undergone expensive repairs costing RM50,000 within 36 months.

“In the long run, Mercedes cars are cheaper to maintain and could also save us fuel costs.

“This is the state’s long-term plan – we are farsighted. The cars could also fetch a high market price, when sold as second-hand cars.

If indeed they were replacing the cars for efficiency, they have indirectly asserted that Proton cars are lousy. Not that it's something we don't know. :)

But regardless of what the man says, I'm banking on oil royalty.

Proton's Mounting Woes...

The poor bastards. They can't seem to do anything right.

In my personal opinion, Proton (better known as 'Potong') should have keeled over and croaked long ago if not for the faithful taxpayers, who have been resuscitating it repeatedly.

And hence it continues to live on like a sick, gasping frog.


Lately, Proton shares slid to its lowest level in nearly seven years Wednesday after the government said it has stopped talking with Volkswagen AG and General Motors Corp. about strategic tie-ups.

I can imagine why.

VW & GM: Stop that asinine affirmative action crap that's going on and hire some people based on meritocracy, you fools!

Potong: No way! It's my way or the highway!

VW & GM: It's been nice knowing you. Take a hike.

Money-losing Proton had been in talks with those two companies to help reverse its fortunes - in other words stop losing money.

Proton reported a loss of 591 million ringgit in the 2007 financial year. However, due to political interests, there are no plans to close up and bid farewell for good. Guess who is going to fund it?

Sigh. To think my hard-earned tax money goes to this.

Obviously, Proton needs to take drastic measures to get itself out of the doggy-do it's in - get creative even.

So it lifts its eyes and looks to Mecca. Lo and behold, Inspiration hit like a ton of bricks!

An 'Islamic' car!! What a wonderful concept! A genuine idea! A brainwave!!

If you believe it.

That would appease Muslim fundamentalists, but hardly the economy, unfortunately.

Asia Sentinel has an interesting opinion on Proton's latest bout of creativity.

Excerpts:

But as with everything in Malaysia, politics plays a more important role than economics in industrial policy.

Although a foreign partner could very well increase production capacity to around 350,000 units a year and lower production costs, the old bosses of the United Malays National Organisation, don’t want to give the facilities away to foreign partners, Islamic or otherwise.

International Herald Tribune had an equally scathing article on Potong, but when I looked again, I couldn't seem to locate the page.


Everytime I click on it, I only get this notice: Page Not Found.


It certainly makes me suspicious - did the Malaysian communist-dictatorship government get its proverbial knickers in a knot over this truthful but not necessarily kind report and demand its withdrawal?

All this bad publicity isn't helping Proton's sorry situation.

Not that it has any plans to fix itself in a hurry.

According to The Star, no specific timeframe will be given to the management of Proton Holdings Bhd to turn the national carmaker around.

Yeah, they'll just use the everlasting government funds.

More taxpayer money down the drain.

Proton, The Abandoned Orphan

Proton hasn't exactly keeled over and croaked just yet, but it's ailing for sure.

And for how long, is beyond me.

Volkswagen is digging its heels in the sand, while Peugeot Citroen has rejected it outright.

That leaves us with General Motors, but if GM wouldn't buy even Chrysler, what are the odds it would settle for Proton with all its additional baggage and conditions like the 30% game?

I'm with The Malaysian when he says the government's claims about still 'evaluating options' to find a strategic partner, needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Proton was never a serious automobile manufacturer. And certainly not world-class.

Of course, in the Malaysian scene, steep taxes for imported cars certainly helped in propagating the car to the masses.

As The Malaysian says, ordinary Malaysians were forced to buy Proton cars despite their inferior quality.

There are misguided Malaysians out there who still believe that Proton is the saviour of their souls because the lower price is within their car-purchasing range.

Many fail to understand that a Japanese or Korean car (with competitive features) without tax, is cheaper than a Proton.

Yes, foreign cars have been heavily taxed to give this illusion that Proton is cheaper.

And for what price? Inferior quality - perpetual power-window failure, cheap and easily broken plastic component parts, and poor performance which is the distinguishing feature of the Proton aka Potong.

Someone ought to ban Potongs from Malaysian roads. I personally think Potongs are the source of traffic jams in Kuala Lumpur as the traffic inevitably slows down at any slope gradient.

Most Potongs go blue in the face trying to accelerate enough power (on the far right lane at that) to make it to the peak of the hill without going bust. Meanwhile, the imported cars tail behind impatiently.

Including yours truly.

I swore I was never going to buy a Potong ever. I have been called unpatriotic for buying my Japanese car but spank my ass and call me a bitch - I'll never settle for a Potong.

Ever.

Someone else can have milo-tin-on-wheels.