Buying a car is not about patriotism, Salleh responds to Dr M

Buying a car has nothing to do with patriotism or nationalism, said Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak.

He was responding to former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's plea for Malaysians to support ailing national carmaker Proton.

In a blog posting today, the minister said he has no argument with the former premier on this.

After all, Salleh added that he was as Malaysian as Mahathir and would support any move to keep the nation's flag flying.

"But then we need to understand that buying a car is not about nationalism or patriotism. It is about spending sometimes up to half your monthly salary (instalments, road tax, insurance, fuel, toll charges, parking fees, service, etc.), not including the depreciation, which can be as high as 20 percent the instant you register your car and drive it out of the showroom.

"So when someone buys a car it all boils down to just one thing, value for money, and whether later you can recover as much as possible from your investment when you decide to sell or trade-in your car.

"And a car is the worst investment you can own because it depreciates the instant you buy it and you lose more money every day you hold on to it," he added.

So ultimately, Salleh said, the issue of market forces and the law of supply and demand dictate what a person does.

"If there is a demand then you create the supply. But you cannot create a demand by asking Malaysians to buy your product just because they are Malaysian and Proton is also Malaysian.

"Sweden did not ask the Swedes to buy Volvo to prevent the company from being sold to the Chinese. Britain did not ask the British to buy Mini to prevent the company from being sold to the Germans," he added.

"This is all about willing buyer, willing seller. But when the buyer is not willing then there is nothing the seller can do.

"Unfortunately, competition and globalisation have turned the world into a buyers’ market. That, basically, is what Proton is suffering from and not due to lack of nationalism and patriotism on the part of Malaysians," he argued.

Last week, Mahathir had resigned from Proton as its chairperson.

In a blog posting last night, he said Proton cannot expect any help from the government.

"Only Proton owners and fans can help Proton. So please help Proton, your national carmaker," he added. -Mkini