Malaysia should venture into an industry where it has a comparative advantage when considering a third national car project, according to Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz. The former Bank Negara governor said the limited availability of resources meant the government should be certain of this advantage when it comes to setting up a new national car project.
During a panel discussion on “The Economic Agenda – Mahathir-nomics 2.0 and Vision 2020 Revisited” at the Youth Economic Forum 2018, Zeti, who is also a member of the Council of Eminent Persons, said, “we should channel resources to areas where we have a comparative advantage, where we have the leading edge to venture into the frontiers of that industry.”
She added that the government must address the issue of debt accumulation and areas of inefficiency and leakages in order to remedy the country’s financial situation. She also urged the government to look at the risk factors because there were no resources to bail out failed projects. “That’s why this has to be thought through carefully,” said Zeti.
When asked why South Korea could successfully build their car industry while Malaysia couldn’t, Zeti said Korea had identified a strategic direction for doing this. “They took care of every aspect of it, from having it located in certain places to preparing the workforce in terms of the education system, which started from the school and technical level and universities,” she said, adding that the country’s integrated approach helped produce a successful outcome.
Meanwhile, Khazanah Nasional Bhd director Dr Sukhdave Singh said that if the third national car becomes a reality, it should be done on one condition – those who propose the project must put their own money into it. “There must be no government subsidies and no large-scale injection of taxpayers’ money. If a third car project is commercially viable, [and] private money goes into it, what is the problem?” he noted.
More recently, deputy minister of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), Dr Ong Kian Ming said German carmakers are welcome to submit proposals for Malaysia’s new national car project. So far, it’s unclear if the agency has received any proposals from these automakers, but an announcement will be made in the future.
While some people, such as Malaysia Automotive Institute (MAI) CEO Datuk Madani Sahari are excited about the new ambitious venture (read his personal opinion, here), not all Malaysians are convinced that a new national car project will bode well, something that prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad himself is fully aware of. Which side of the divide do you belong to? Sound off, below.
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MIMOS founded in 1984, more than 30yrs ago. Gave MY that elusive comparative advantage …
But MIMOS lost Jaring. Jaring was Msia’s first ISP. All the clowns in MIMOS could not even keep that going.
When willl this madness stop, will there be 4th, 5th, etc national car pojek each time the previous failed and sold to Tongsan??
Toyota MR2 EV, third national car
Why not first national drone?
Why not first national airplane,since Air asia and MAS buying hundreds of Airbus and Boeing?
Why not first national bus?
Tan Sri Zeti has a point.Tun…rakyat NEVER WANTED Protiga to inflate your ego.Pls do fire firefighting and damage control from the mess the bandits have left behind.
We strongly BANTAH PROJEK MEMBAZIR WANG.
We already sacrificed so much because of Proton. In 1985 a Toyota Corolla was RM20k.
Today the same Toyota Corolla is RM139k
The same Toyota Corolla in Japan had only gone up 50% in price from 1985 to 2018 whilst our prices went up 700% from 1985 to 2018
All to protect Proton
….aaaaand Proton went private already.
So all that’s left to plotek is Pro-2 eh?
This 3rd car project is obviously gov driven not private. Even if it is private, can this 3rd car project be free from government interference and tongkat? I dont think so.
memandangkan kewangan negara yang tidak baik, terpaksa lancar perotiga.
macam projet in boleh untung besar ke
Boleh gasak duit
Kereta nasional ketiga di anggap untuk menjaga kroni kroni Proton semula semasa Tun M melancar kereta nasional Proton dahulu.
Lagi pun permintaan rakyat Malaysia daripada kementerian pengangkutan untuk memperluaskan , memyempurnakan, memperbaiki , menentapkan ,mengawalkan jadual Masa yang singkat Dan tetap tidak dapat di utamakan serta merta dengan restui PM Malaysia.
Hanya asyik pentingkan kereta nasional ketiga sahaja daripda merendahkan bilangan kesesatan lalu lintas dan memperbaiki pengangkutan awam yang teruk tidak di laksanakan cepat.
No one will listen to you la Zeti. PH does what PH wanna do. Toll abolishment? Cannot la without upping the fuel price. New car project that we have fail so miserably before? Bring it on! Sure can do one. Just need to up the current car prices more so that ours can sell because the low and middle class rakyat that make up the majority of the votes cant afford the imports.
MAI fella ofcourse excited, he got to proove his salary is worth paying after so many years
In other word, she is saying ‘no’.
A wise lady.
Sekarang ni siapa yb? Zeti ke? Pandai2 nak mengajar yb
Maybe perhaps…Nissan Leaf EV platform. Renewal RH850 MCU chassis control & R-Car V2H ProPilot auto parking semi autonomous ADAS.
Again, Tesla has offered to anyone its EV technology free of charge. Make full use of it.
Dyson car could have come here but we went for PeroTiga instead.
If the 3rd National Car project is by Tesla, and not any single cents from Malaysia Government, then I will say Yes!
Other than this, If Tun M insist this, he may be the next Ah Jib!
Bapak is the next Bapak. The same Bapak as he has been for the 22 years rule. Only now he got real horsepower in his ladang of thoroughbreds.