Recently, the Malaysian government approved Proton’s application for a soft loan of RM1.5 billion. The loan does of course come with a set of terms, and it has been revealed that Proton will agree to all of them.
This includes providing a convincing business model along with a strategic plan to expand its domestic and international markets. Both will be overseen by a special task force that will be set up and it will be led by Pemandu chief executive Datuk Seri Idris Jala. It is yet unknown who will be part of the task force.
According to a report by Bernama, International Trade and Industries (MITI) minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the government will set a timeline for Proton to implement its turnaround plan. “The government will not interfere in the company’s operation, but we will monitor it based on the conditions set by the Ministry of Finance,” he said.
When asked if the Government would bail out Proton, similar to the way it did Malaysia Airlines System Bhd (MAS), Mustapa said, “Proton’s (case) is not like (that of) MAS, it’s a private company but it produces our national car.”
“We are also taking into consideration the interest of its some 60,000 workers and vendors. This is why we’ve decided to grant them the soft loan. We hope Proton will do better as it is important for 60,000 people working under the company,” he added.
Proton is confident of its turnaround plans, and has expressed its appreciation to the Malaysian government for approving the loan. With new models like the Perdana on the way (followed by the new Persona and Saga), and its partnership with Suzuki, do you think Proton can live up to expectations?
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Whatever terms Proton cant ever ignore… GREED the power to accept anything that involved political. AP system owners this year bonus must be huge ! (from 1.5 billions)
This is not soft loan.. This is bailout! buy Toyota better!
The ‘Soft Loan’ thingy is probably just to hook winked the general Malaysian public.
Syukurlah ada BN, more boxes of moving coffins can be produced
Giving RM1.5b, ANYONE will agree to ANY terms. At the end of the days, if Proton fails again (99.99% it will), just get another RM2.5bil with WHATEVER terms lar.
Conclusion is u must buy Proton, if not Proton couldn’t pay back 1.5b
Now that the Sharia compliant Airline also got into trouble, why don’t the G also give soft loan to that Airline?
Who’s the ceo of this airline?
60,000 people or 30 million rakyat?
Hello?
+1
RM1.5b can give how many students overseas scholarships compare to just go down the drain with Proton.
if we can survive RM2.6 billion for just 1 man.
RM1.5 billion for 1 kompeni is Nothing.
I surely hope one of the things they were made to agree was to actually pay back the loan. If not, we’d better call it what it really is – a bailout, not a loan.
There goes another RM1.5 billion from rakyat’s pocket… all these terms & conditions mean nothing. After a few years, it will be back to square one again.. you’ll see. Another bailout to troubled company… Proton is under Syed Mokhtar.. supposedly the richest man in Malaysia now. Still need loan?
he is definitely not the richest, not even close to the one from the East side
Ok, First of all, how convincing is convince? Very subjective, I don’t see the solid grow and direction of this company.
P1 and MAS both represent reputation of Malaysia images. One with product, another with their service. I don’t see the different.
Are you said we want to save 60K workers but then use 29M taxpayer money to save it. Come on la, I am loss here, just tell us, it is donation or business? For me, it should run as business. And we still believe, something was wrong inside the company, there are a lots of money being use and but the yeild still remain low for 30 years. At lease P2 and Petronas could doing better, why can’t PI.
Please consider to close it, so we could use that money to upgrade our Gov hospital facilities, and Rakyat will love the Gov.
Prodon is like an Ah Beng who studied until SPM but later always in between jobs, or asking parents money to start own bisnis after bisnis but each time fails as he always want to use shortcuts to get rich quick…nearly 40 still unmarried still asking parents to buy car house for him…always complain and blame oters for his fate…there r many people in tis category, too bad
who don want if got free…
on black and white is soft loan
at the end no news..
just like throw whole money into sea and get a “dooom” sound
Turnaround? haha.
Why don’t you all search the words “Proton turnaround” in Paultan and see the turnarounds that Proton promises. There was one in 2007 then in 2012 and now 2016.
Waja – Asia BMW
Gen2 – game changer
Preve – game changer
Iriz – global small car.
ROFLMAO
To them every new model is game changer, to most Malaysians it is ‘Game Almost Over’
LOL……. Some people still believes in fairy tales by P1.
Proton is not at the mark and yet up to the standard even with the soft loan.. :(
Agreed? do they have any other choice? Gov and all Rakyat know they WILL not be able to deliver or change. this is the final straw and chapter for them. As long as DRB are around and biz is awarded to Tun M friends under the table there is no chance for P1 to stay afloat. People will not buy their so called new models. they know it but still stay so Ego. if we add up the 5 figure over RM50 to RM100K salaries they pay to their board members and top managers we get Millions of RM per month. are they willing to get pay cut? off course not. are they willing to let some of DRB useless suppliers go? off course not. are they willing to terminate Tun M appointed useless companies like DreamEdge and kit car maker company Bufori and so many other to be cut from supply chain and ask them to pay back all the extra money they got from Proton? off course not because all is under table to send money to Tun M team. I hope gov monitor this transaction and dont let them misuse the funds for their own fun..
Another turnaround and around and around… akhir sendiri pusing sendiri mabuk. Suggest Potong make a roundabout thus can turnaround vry second.
Proton is still not up to the mark and yet have the standard even with the bill out.. :(
must have been very hard to agree on the terms!
No they can’t and at the end of 2016 they will go for bankruptcy and will be sold off to another party to clean up DRB hicom massive mess. I hope all the under table work in Proton for the past 30 years being revealed to rakyat.
in b4 bash no matter what
IMO, should give chance to Proton. But not infinity chances. The last mean last and close if it fail.
Soft loans for the soft made protons. Lembab dan lemah since 1983.
This is a horrible bailout.
Rm14 B gone.Now another rm 1.5 B.
In 3 years ,what if Proton still cry’Tolong”?
This time 2.6B ?
The 60,000 workers if they have spines,they can get jobs elsewhere.I was laid off twice,still can get jobs and not wait for bailouts.
The soft loan will be turned into a grant very soon.Those dead wood will say” Taapa,gomen bailout,kami goyang kaki,taxpayer bayar mah”.
Just see in 3 years….another bailout is coming.
Bang ini kereta proton, kalo tak suka boleh you buat kat luar, tak yah kat sini bising bising
Sapa ada bising? Tulis mana boleh bising? Lain lah kereta proton, baru beli pn suda bising
Closed shop! Loan likely come from GST collection!
Proton & Mas are in the same boat.
Both companies were taken private to cover up the mess & losses created.
But why trying to play God and be taken for ransom by the vendors & 60000 employees ? Let DRB Hicom & it’s stakeholders decide on the direction & survival of Proton, the government should not interfere as it is no more a GLC. Of course Proton will paint a rosy picture cos the money is already in the pocket. Govt should have asked Proton to present their realistic turnaround plan b4 even giving them a single sen.
Sigh.
Correct. Proton make national car. Mas is national carrier/airline. Pretty much the same.
Malaysian is national human! Most of its netizens like sampah! Racist & not patriotic as Singaporean!
At least MAS under the Mat Salleh boss dare to lay off thousands of workers.
fired all management sitting there without contribution, save millions and last a few more years..
then hire someone serious without datuk title to run the company
all cronies suppliers kill off
ya, then it can survive and building a car with better cost and quality.
Masih perlu “tongkat tadika”??!!!
Bazir masa & duit. Pecat Mgnt terus & ganti dgn org jepun baru berkesan! ni cuma tunjuk act je!
Kill nepotism – half of the problem solved.
Kill dumb politicians – all of our problems solved.
Kill hypocrite politicians – problems never existed in the 1st place
wow IDRIS JALA..
aku ingat apa jadi dengan MAS…
Idris jala tahu Dia tak boleh selamatkan mas… Cepat2 cabut lari. Duit masuk bukan sebab untung tapi jual aset. Kepala bana
“We are also taking into consideration the interest of its some 60,000 workers and vendors. This is why we’ve decided to grant them the soft loan. We hope Proton will do better as it is important for 60,000 people working under the company,” he added.
That why Proton melingkup!!. Ingatkan nak utamakan pelangan, rupanya nak selamat 60 000, seluruh rakyat yg lain suffer!..Aduh Malaysiaku…
Can we please know what these ‘terms’ are ? Every taxpaying Malaysian has a right to know what exactly is being negotiated behind this soft loan. Don’t try and cover up the details, it is the undemocratic way of things.
This kind of ‘bail out’ is nothing new. In fact, in almost every car producing country, the government has always tried to preserve their automotive industries. The difference between our government and most others, is that ours is far more corrupted… we just cannot trust them with billions of our tax funds.
Until today, the government of Germany has not allowed a single German car factory to close down. They have gone to great lengths to prevent that from happening. The situation in France is similar, but unlike Germany, French cars don’t sell as well as they used to, and France may eventually close down a few plants and focus on their North African and Chinese plants for growth. Sweden has also tried their best to hold on, but they’re a small country and they don’t have as much purchasing power as Germany or France. Italy is an exception to this rule (note that their government is quite corrupt), they have moved much of their production to South America. Italy produced just 0.66 million cars in 2015, compared to 0.61 million in Malaysia, 5.71 million in Germany, 2.22 mil in Spain, and 1.55 million in France.
Even the U.K., which has lost most of their national car companies produced a solid 1.59 million cars last year. And contrary to what some minister said a few days back, no, he’s wrong, the British government spent many billions trying to save Rover over the course of some 3 decades. They even had a campaign, ‘Buy British’, which succeeded for some time with the ubiquitous Mini, but not even national pride could save MG Rover. Their story is very inspiring and sad, from one of the most desirable to one of the least. Even our Proton was rated far higher than Rover in a 1999 UKCA survey. Ultimately, it was complacency that killed MG Rover, but the labour unions, politicians, Margaret Thatcher, BMW, British Leyland, the Japanese and several others all had a part in Rover’s demise. I strongly recommend you to watch the 23 min documentary, “Who Killed The British Motor Industry?” by a (young) Jeremy Clarkson. Learning from others is a good thing… in this case, so that we can avoid a similar fate.
Reminds me of those stories in Chinese newspapers in which the parents of those ungrateful ģambling sons promised not to gamble again after being bailed out but repeated the same thing again later, or using their parrents money to start HP bisnis and asking them to buy NEW Vios when a recon Vios will do…trust me I have seen many of these losers
..
Proton will be on shaky ground 3 year down the road with RM1.5B and may need another RM1.5B, it could just be the bottomless pit unless Proton goes under re-organization big time with real experts/professionals taking over the management, it seems Idris Jala will be the adviser, given his track record at MAS, what can he do then? My guess is he will ask Proton to sell the Shah Alam plant to property developers.
Agreed does not mean can deliver.. We used to get all kind of excuses.I know what u did last 30 years..
U knw Michael Chong? (Aka Justice Bao)…he handled many cases where the parents finally disown their sons in public (who owe ah longs again despite being bailed out multiple times)..perhaps time for the gomen to disown the loser
Should have just sold off Proton to any interested China car marker. Padan muka la, last time Volkswagen want to joint venture, Proton lan si say dont want. At least can get new engines from VW and ditch those thirsty Campro engines.
The government didn’t bother with ” The needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few ” . 60k ppl more important than 30mils ppl.