Without protection we would not have a car industry — Mahathir Mohamad

Yup, never has truer words been spoken. Without protection, proton is dead. After 20 years, and RM190 million per year in tax rebates and government research grants, proton still cannot produce a car that isn't a death trap on wheels (China's debut car performs better). The days when Proton could have dominated the Asean market are well over. Thailand has the capacity to produce 1.63 million cars per year. The Philippines, even Indonesia already produce their own cars and proton has failed to enter even our neighbours markets.

So people, lets salute Proton, the white elephant that eats Malaysian tax payers money and produce crap, while giving a select few a free ride to richer places.

PS : Note according to Protons own statistics, Proton only makes an average profit RM1000 per car that it sells. Amazing isn't it.

WHO wanted to have a car industry in the first place???

NOT the rakyat surely.

The only way Mahathir knows how to do business in through PROTECTIONISM and MONOPOLY. In a competitive level playing field, he's totally lost. Was he not the one who even change his own party's constitution that to challenge his position, one has to have so many nominations ?
Some protection is OK initially, if it's only for a period of time to allow for set-up and catch-up. But in Proton's case, Mahathir's idea of protection is identical to that of his idea of NEP...ie Never Ending Policy.
25 years later, even our neighbours are not interested to buy Protons. Does that tell you something?

Tun,

Let me point out something which I think you should note before opening your mouth. YOU drive a PORSCHE SUV while the PROTON car you had was GIVEN (before you decided to merajuk and return it). In a previous newspaper articles, you were smilling in a PORSCHE which you admitted you enjoyed the car. Almost all Malaysians that owned a Proton with their hard earned money had numerous horror stories on the quality which I am quite sure the Proton factory made sure yours was specially assembled (no doubt with Tengku Mahalel's supervision).

YOUR CHILDREN ALL DRIVES FOREIGN CARS with the Proton there just for show. Don't believe, I ask all readers to drive past their homes and see which car occupies the front porch prominently. If there is a proton, it is normally at some corner there just in case ppl can say your children so 'humble' and has the 'bersama rakyat' quality. What a HYPOCRITE !!! I sometimes don't blame Paul Keating, Australia for describing what he said about you in the APEC summit last time.

T he question we should all ask is who has benefited from Proton ? Definitely not the car owners ( who could have purchased a better car at lower prices if the tax structure did not preferentially support Proton )and the tax payers ( who have footed the losses incurred by Proton ) . The minority who have benefited include the employees of Proton and the distributors. And the bigger beneficaries have been the local vendors who sell components to Proton at a significant premium. The biggest beneficiary has been the Ego of the Man who initiated the whole idea, much against the advice of some prominient academicians.

Tun's logic goes against the grain of mainstream economists who strongly believe that less than a dozen global car manufacturers will survive. Proton is a minnow compared to the other global players and it is foolhardy to believe that by some miracle Proton will survive. In this financially difficult times, the only thing Proton will do, is to continue to bleed the nations coffers and reduce the disposable income of the average car owner. This is another example of a rent seeking industry, where wealth is transfered from the average Joe to the 287 vendors ( as stated by Proton in 2005) .

If it wasn't for Proton , Malaysia , instead of Thailand, could have been a auto hub for ASEAN employing thousands more workers, and exporting tens of thousands more vehicles. And the average Joe would have been driving a Toyota or Honda , at a 30 % discount . Instead the ego and hubris of one man has 'checkmated' the auto industry in Malaysia.

I wouldn't buy anymore Proton cars. I owned & gone thru 5 models in my lifetime. My conclusion, is that its a crap car forced down to the poor people !

hey mamak kutu!!! what protection??? most malaysian do not need proton!!! it's expensive and lousy!!! u just want to proctec your crony!!!

Oh dear, I hope I am not prematurely senile...because whatever chedet said about having a national car industry made no sense. He did not state lucidly what are the benefits to the country of having a car manufacturer which cannot compete on the global stage? Nay, Proton cannot even compete regionally.

And the stupid Proton management is still trying to make us believe the car is good when clearly its not. Most Malaysians end up buying a car which at best can only be described as second rate, and at worst - worth only 10% + scrap metal value.

Speak to the old timers who were in the car industry in the 1970's and 80's and you will find that there was no talk about exporting Proton at all during that era. Proton was created purely to serve the domestic market. At that time the car industry in Malaysia was dominated by the "pendatang". Even though most of the cars sold were locally assembled and their factories employed thousands of Malaysians, the dominant players - Borneo Motors, Tan Chong, Asia Motor, Kah Motor - were all majority owned by non-Bumiputras.

Dr. M's grand idea was to ensure that Bumiputras took over a large section of the industry through Proton. Thus excise and import duties on all cars except Proton were raised for five years in a row in order to make room for Proton. The price of a Corolla quickly went up from RM18,000 to RM35,000 mainly because of these duties. Of course Protons were then sold at lower prices but these prices were much higher than what Toyotas, Nissans and Mazdas would have been if they paid the same duties as Proton. Naturally Protons sold like hot cakes.

In the meantime the suppliers of car parts to the factories had to be approved by the government (MIDA). They had to be majority owned by Bumiputras and the majority of them were Ali-Baba arrangements between Malaysian investors and foreign technology suppliers. They got away with quasi-monopoly prices and low quality parts simply because Malaysian manufacturers - Proton and non-Proton - had no choice but to buy from them.

So in one sweeping policy change Malaysian consumers got to pay higher prices for lower quality cars while a privileged few enjoyed handsome profits from a protected industry. Mission accomplished.

Many years later Proton was forced to export its products in order to make good its promise of "developing the car industry in Malaysia". Faced with a level playing field overseas Proton has never been able to be more than a small bit player in any international market.

this is a big jokes!
do gov perform any financial studies or return of investment (ROI) comparison if we have car industry (p & p2 ) only and with for many big foreign player come here to invest or open factory?
can you imagine how much money we can earn from job creation, open up factory, knowledge we learn from foreign player if a lots of them come here to invest? see what happen in thailand...
as what we can say, because of one tree got effected, we cut the whole forest...
some ppl are not stupid enough believe what you say....
do jpn, germans, koreans car build in american got such high excise and import duties?
anyhow, all these foreign car player build their car in malaysia also want to charge for import and excise duties!!
only certain ppl earn this protection method but it will definately NOT benefit for the whole malaysians and future...

ban proton for whole life......

When I started work in 1983, there was no Proton yet. The most popular car back then was the Nissan Sunny and Toyota DX or GL, if memory serves me right now. Back then, one could afford a nice Japanese car. Not long later Proton came about. There were ofcourse a lot of funfair and fireworks and PR work from the Government but I kind of remember one of the reasons for Proton was that so we can develop local M'sian in the field of motor engineering. I recalled a friend mentioning so that we, Malaysian, especially Bumiputra would not be afraid of venturing into the motor industry.

OK fine. That's ok. We are all Malaysian so we supported the government, we supported Proton. And I did. My first Proton was a Saga. How she flew on the road. It was a generally a good car. After getting a little fat in the wallet, I migrated to Wira. Used that for a few years. Frankly, there were not much problems with the two cars if you keep regular maintenance. There were ofcourse some issues with the power windows and things keep dropping and breaking on the dashboard but overall still livable. However now, I will never buy a Proton again.

Have you driven a Toyota lately or a Honda? You can feel the difference. Cars are so expensive nowadays so why settle for less.

Malaysian car? Penipu besar, this Dr M! The Proton Saga was designed by Mitsubishi, everybody knows. Pumping billions into promoting Proton as "a Malaysian car" that could have gone into providing the rakyat a first-class integrated public transport system - thereby drastically reducing traffic congestion, exhaust pollution, and dependency on fossil fuels. But, then, him and his cronies wouldn't have made even more billions foisting toll highways on us.... This man does not deserve to be called "a visionary." History will reveal that his every single act as PM for 22 years was motivated by pure self-interest and self-aggrandizement, nothing more.

...and with protection, Malaysia inherited a bleeding car industry while a only a few privileged ones went on to become fat cats?

to ex JC MD.

Yes, we all know the inside story of Proton and it is no wonder why the price of Proton is so high, as you said 50% more. The suppliers are crying (and laughing) foul of their greed, and started supplying rejected parts as well. Just ask any proton user if they have any prob with their proton cars; power windows, auto lock, sensor, cd player etc.

Show you the man has gone senile. He mean without protection, they won't have a car company, not industry. Show you how senile he is now...

This can be translated as "Proton needs indefinite protection so that some families and cronies will enjoy indefinite benefits and kickbacks". "National industry" was never the issue.

Hi Malaysians, given TDM's history with forcing his decisions down the people's truth, he may come up with another great idea to save Proton.

He might make it mandatory for every Malaysian car buyer to buy a new Proton before they are allowed to buy a foreign made car.

Like magic, instant solution for Proton that requires new hard work, no improvement in quality i.e TDM's way of solving any problem. Stick it to the average Malaysian.

dear kutty

you are correct when you said Britain, Germany, Japan, Korea protect their car market

but you know what, they produce good car with best quality for their people, unlike you, your proton produce lame car. cannot tahan one. no safety, people die during accident. we pay high price for that junk car. why cant you protect proton but you make good quality car and some more cheap like the britain, germany, japan, korea car?

So?

people protecting, yes right....okay....
but people car is getting better and better...improve in efficiency, quality
what your Proton has? tell us!!

Quality? Crap!
efficiency? Campro? Shit!

You should not have started the industry in the first place without the scale
you the one bring this shit to us. Now we forced to live with it because of you, old man!
You bare the responsibility of all Malaysian who suffers today due to Proton.

You are the culprit.

30years over soon and it still a piece of crap
let go off the protection, if it can improve and survive, let it survive....if not, let it go.

wow...if i do business will the govern give me protection??.... come on la... you need to be competitive, keep on improving and provide competitive prices, good management and etc. or else pls close shop and allow big manufacturers come in.

WHY THE WORLD DO MALAYSIA NEEDED TO HAVE A CAR INDUSTRY IN THE FIRST INSTANCE ???
MALAYSIA CANNOT EVEN INVENT A SIMPLE LAWN MOVER ENGINE LET ALONE AN AUTOMOBILE
ENGINE AT THAT, SO WHATS DR. MAHATHIR TRYING TO PROVE TO THE WORLD ??
MALAYSIA IS ONLY BORROWING SOME COUNTRY'S BACKSIDE TO USE IT AS A FACE AT WHAT PRICE ???
ALL THESE MADNESS ARE ALL DUE TO HIS STUPID EGOs.

Bullsh!t!!! Mahathir. Japanese, Koreans,Germans make fantastic cars. That's why people still buy them at inflated sky rocket prices in bolehland inspite of the ridiculous duties. British make expensive and not too practical cars that's why we don't buy them here anymore. If Proton were to make good quality cars and support it with good after sales service and sold it at competitive prices, we Malaysians would surely support it. But you failed for years to provide Malaysians with not even half of all that.
Your idea of Protection is identical to that of your NEP, ie Never Ending Policy. Are you happy that Malaysians drive inferior cars on the road when they could have driven top-of-range cars made by others at a fraction of the cost. A Toyota Camry in Australia cost much less than a Perdana sold in Malaysia. And their per capita income is way above Malaysia's. On this issue,you have brought down the standard of living of all Malaysians.
Based on your arguement, why don't you start producing 3rd. generation televisions in Malaysia and impose a 300% duty on imported brands. The Raykat would surely have to buy this low grade Malaysian product because then an imported 32inch. Toshiba, Samsung or Philip brand would sell for 30K while this inferior product only cost 22K. Of course, the rich and connected will go for the imported ones just like they go for BMWs and Mercs.
Mahathir, why can't you for once admit that Proton is a collosal failure and that you have overtaxed and forced Malaysians into paying for sub-standard product and services.
Proton can't even sell in neighbouring Asean countries, and they don't have an auto. industry to protect, does that tell you how good your product is?

With protection Proton has become obsolete.

"Britain had Imperial Preference, Japan and Korea ensured no foreign cars could be imported, even America insists on the Japanese, Koreans and Germans producing their cars in America, employing Americans and paying high salaries"
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Is true that other countries are protecting their car markets as well. But the qualities of the cars produced by those companies are not compromised by those protection measures. Look at Proton, can anybody tell me if they actually have a proton car that is defect free? Anyone? Shame on Proton!

What ever it is Proton is already the people's baby. The only thing is don't let it be another Perwaja that because of the losses it was given away under the pretext of privatization to one of the cronies. It is very maddening to hear so many mega projects are being used as channel to siphon people's money into private hands. Just think the amount that our children and grandchildren have to pay or live in sufferings because of such blunders. The people do not want to hear anymore cases of the Agusta blunder of selling at one euro. The buyer in turn sell to other party at hundreds of millions of profit.

"Without protection we would have no car industry. Proton gained 80 per cent of the market at one time benefiting from protectionism."
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Protecting Proton at the expense of the rakyat? The rakyat is not only paying so much more for Proton, but also having to subsidized the wealthy foreigners who are paying much lower for a better Proton model. This is a stupid project which does not benefit the country or the people at all.

read my lips
B * L L S H * T
ur xploiting rakyats wif d stupid recycle milo tin made crap car , low quality low standard n d list
goes on.. shaddap old man , y dun u juz lay down n die... tats d best u can do for ur country
at these times...

25 years of protection. How many more years of protection before Proton can stand on its own two feet.? 25 years would have allowed a man to father a kid and see him go out into the world on his own. It looks like Proton was born a handicap child that would need protection till its dying days. Protection from the cradle to the grave so to speak.

TDM, what you say do not make sense. The fact is the money put into setting up Proton, and the money that the public is still coming out with through high excise duties are not worth a single cent. Pray tell what benefit has the setting up of Proton done for the people. Proton cars are not sold cheap locally. Proton cars are not marketable overseas because of their inferior quality. So the only benefit I can think of is for your ego. By 2020, there will only be 5 automobile manufacturers in the whole world. Proton is not going to be amongst them.

wow, this is just the way of saying that "NAP is not my fault please refer to the correct people"

Yes its true that a homegrown auto industry needs some sort of protection against bigger brands in the start, but that does not mean that they need to be protected INDEFINITELY. Come on, more then 20 damn years in the industry and proton is still giving us half past six products?

in fact, the protons of yesteryear are better built than the protons of now because no proton now is built with passion, or even a keen eye for detail. Loose parts on the first week of purchase, missing items like a boot plug, and even the fact that the centre that sold the cars can't even have the common courtesy to aligned the wheels and steering wheel properly. Many of my friends who have bought new protons like the satria neo and persona all have their own set of complaints - all within the first month of purchase. What kind of competitiveness is that?? How can you win the hearts of the world when you cant even win the hearts of the local nation?

And to add insult to injury, its not like the protons are anything 'affordable'. 50k for a normal sized sedan. wow, thats some load of cash. How can the lower income bracket people afford our local cars?

A small history lesson:
The VW Beetle was herald the 'people's car' in Germany when it was first launched. It was built tough and long lasting and could be bought easily by anyone. That is a 'people's car' where it serves the nation.

Proton seems to be the opposite: give us crap at expensive prices, so we spend more to maintain the crap buying expensive parts, whittling our already dry pockets due to the initial purchase of the car. Best part is, most of us are stuck with that one purchase for more than 10 years due to hire purchase loans.

In Thailand, there are many car manufacturers who have set up shop there, and its impressive. Can we deny that Thailand does not have a car industry? Just because its not home grown doesn't mean that it is not a car industry. APs granted to privileged holders only enriched these holders. It didn't matter to the "foreigner" because they sold cars which were priced in an open market. Therefore, it is mistaken to say that the foreigners made a lot of money with the lower price of their cars sold in Malaysia. Proton lost money because it is just not on par with global competition. It lost money because despite the protection, they could not even compete effectively on their home ground. If Proton had 80% of the market, what did it do to maintain that hold? Did it try to improve and compete on level playing field? By the way, who was it that introduced the AP system? Under whose administration was the AP system introduce. Its like the pot calling the kettle black!

"Without protection we would have no car industry. Proton gained 80 per cent of the market at one time benefiting from protectionism."
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Waah, really ah?


And how many percent you & rakan-rakan "gained" ah?