Our 1 Trillion Ringgit Proton

The billions of ringgit that a certain government investment vehicle sporting the 1 Malaysia brand owes is nothing compared to what has already been spent on our "National" Mitsubishi.

COMMENT

By Andrew Gomez

One trillion ringgit. Or half a trillion. Or a quarter trillion.

That’s how much money that you and I, dear reader, had to pay in total for Malaysia’s Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional (i.e. Proton) Saga.

In 1985, it was just a rebadged Mitsubishi Lancer F-model. Mitsubishi was prevented from selling that model in Malaysia since Dr.Mahathir Mohamed wanted it to be a “Malaysian” car.

With an 8-valve Mitsubishi “Orion” engine, slightly modified Mitsubishi coachwork and trim, it was hardly “Malaysian” though. Perhaps the only Malaysian components were the car’s rubber tires and a few other odd parts, including the wipers.

How much? Berapa?

The first Saga 1.3 Sederhana sold for about RM16,000 or so, OTR. Cheap?

No, not really since prices of all other cars had been artificially hiked to make the Saga appear cheap. And that is still the case today. Luckily Malaysians don’t complain about the injustice they suffer daily.

Perhaps the car’s most distinctive feature, aside from the overheating and poor fuel consumption, was the inevitable rattle from the dashboard when the engine idled. Grrrrr..rrrrr. The car’s logo was eventually changed to depict a tiger that growled, but only at idle speeds when the car was stuck in inevitable traffic jams.

Lately there seems to be much interest in the billions of ringgit that a certain government investment vehicle sporting the 1 Malaysia brand now owes. But really, what are billions compared to the half-trillion or quarter trillion ringgit of our tax money which has already been spent on our “National” Mitsubishi?

And, of course, that figure does not take into account the higher taxes you and I pay for every other car that isn’t “Malaysian”. That’s extra, of course. After all, the only way to make “Malaysian” cars cheaper is to make every other car more expensive, right? That’s classic Mahathir-nomics, no?

And where do we stand after 30 years of “Malaysian Automotive Excellence” today? Well, our Protons are exported to China today where they are re-badged and sold as Youngman Automobiles. Not Protons. Youngman. So from Mitsubishi to Proton to Youngman; these are probably the planet’s most schizophrenic vehicles.

Do you believe your tax money was well-spent, dear reader?

And what about Proton’s short-lived acquisition of MV Agusta? Proton purchased the motorcycle company which was valued at Euros 70 million and later sold it for 1 Euro.

Who bore that loss? You did, dear taxpaying reader…you did.

So here is the challenge for you today: how much, in total, are you, the Malaysian taxpayer, paying for your Proton vehicle in 2015?

Andrew Gomez is an FMT reader