AP Holders Told Not To Compete With Proton

I wonder why the government agree that competition, even foreign competition would be healthy for it’s broadband market but not it’s automotive market. It’s clear that Proton lags far behind the international car manufacturing standards. And this seems to be done on purpose, with the cars meant for the export market being of a higher build quality than the ones destined for the local market.

The latest scandal in the trade and automotive industry would be Approved Permits or APs. We have politicians and ex-politicians talking all sorts of stuff about the issue but everyone knows it’s just to feed the public through the media. Nothing will ever change.

On the issue of APs, the prime minister has asked importers with APs not to import cars that would be on the same level and compete with Proton. So much for competition. Why issue APs in the first place then if you know the recipient of the APs would use them to import Proton competitors? Or is it because you cannot track the recipient’s intention to import because the people who are awarded the APs would just sell and resell and resell the APs anyway?

Click read more for the full story from The Star.

Original Article Source

Bring in other types of models, AP holders told

KUALA LUMPUR: Vehicles imported by AP (approved permit) holders are not meant to compete with cars produced by Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional (Proton), said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

He explained that AP holders were supposed to facilitate the import of vehicles with bigger engine capacity and size, or category of cars that were not produced by national carmakers.

“The cars we are importing … we wouldn’t want cars of the type that compete with Proton in terms of engine capacity and size. They (AP holders) should concentrate on bigger capacity cars,” he told reporters after opening Enterprise Asia, an exposition for small- and medium-sized enterprises, at the Putra World Trade Centre here yesterday.

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Moh-amad had urged the Government to issue APs with the national car industry in mind.

Dr Mahathir, who is Proton adviser, had said that although the AP system was generally good, some AP holders were importing cars in the same category as that produced by Proton, and under-declaring the cost of the vehicle, at times “even below the cost of raw materials.”

Abdullah said the Royal Customs and Excise Department was aware of AP holders who under-declared the value of imported cars.

“They are investigating and taking action and I want them to continue with the effort,” he said.

Asked to comment on China’s reluctance to allow Malaysian cars to be sold in its market, Abdullah, who is also Finance Minister, said the Government hoped countries which exported cars to Malaysia would “reciprocate.” He urged local car manufacturers to strive harder to penetrate overseas markets.

On escalating HIV infections, Abdullah said the Government was considering giving free syringes and condoms to injecting drug users.

“Many people who are ill are still sexually active and the chances of infecting others, usually their partners, are high. We have to find the best approach to stop the disease from spreading because it is at a critical level,” he added.

Abdullah said Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek would liase with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Abdullah Zin to explain the rationale of the proposal to Islamic religious leaders.

Related Posts:
Rafidah remains tight lipped
Government Commited to removing protection for Proton
Rafidah instructed to reply Dr. M
Misconceptions over Proton subsidy unfortunate
Proton vs. MITI Round 3
Mahaleel’s job safe for now
Tengku Mahaleel given 1 week to explain
Mahaleel’s job on the line
Rafidah’s cheap shots at Mahaleel
Malaysia’s new automotive policy delayed
Tengku Mahaleel critics government auto policies
AP holders told not to compete with Proton

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After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • Rajan R on Jun 23, 2005 at 5:19 am

    Heh, I blogged about this earlier. Why, you ask? Perhaps there are more cronies related to Proton than to TMnet?

    Or more likely if foreign competition is brought in, Proton might just croak up and wither away. That would be a blow to UMNO – afterall, they wanted Proton while the rest of Malaysia questioned the wisdom behind it. But there was little to no political opposition in providing TMnet's services, especially broadband ones, and contention was based merely on the extend of the services not the fact a Malaysian, government-supported company provides them.

    Plus, it is unlikely TMnet Sdn Bhd would significantly reduce in dominance once the market is opened up. It's market share would obviously drop significantly from its near-monopoly status now, but TMnet isn't gonna get hit all that hard. Especially when their main business still isn't consumer broadband (there's already a significant amount of competition for business and corporate broadband which explains why they're more competitive).

    Just saying.

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  • Rajan!!! hear you man!!!

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  • Wingz on Jun 23, 2005 at 9:45 am

    HAHAHAHA so they can keep selling junks to malaysian and we still hafta buy it ? MAN!!

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  • Dear Wingz,

    agree with you, they are still selling junk.

    no competition means no need to improve.

    end of the day, the country suffer !!

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  • Perodua produce car people "want" to buy while Proton produce car to "force" you to buy !

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  • jonahdiary on Jun 25, 2005 at 8:01 am

    i quite agree with rajan's opinion. however, please allow me to add in some missing point here.

    Why there is different of our government policy towards telco and automotive industries? in order to understand the root causes, we should know the political economy and govrnment direction in respective industries since the establishment.

    The main objective of the national car project established i.e. Proton was actualy as one of the project in NEP (national economy policy or dasar ekonomi baru) which as an effort assist bumiputra and narrow down the so-called economic gap among races. When Proton lauched, the government encouraged bumiputra to join in this project to become auto parts suppliers for proton despite they totally lack of experience in auto parts manufacturing. There were plenty of programmes and kursus carried out to educate these vendors. however, When times went by, the project which had a good starting become inefficient due to the subsidy mentality of our local suppliers. If we convict Proton is inefficient, we should also think tht the root cause also because of our lousy suppliers supply lousy parts to Proton. Due to the background, it is hard for the government to lift up the protectionist policy without any serious consideration.

    Of course, the telco indsutry is much more stra8 forward. In the National Telecommunication Policy of Malaysia, the govenrment direction is towards an open source country in order to achieve a knowledge society in 2020, tht's why the government never protect our telco industry, instead encourages competition. U can visit the followinng link for further info: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/docum…

    So, what i want to say is historical factors do play a significant role in the analysis of why the govt pursues two distinct policies for the said industries.

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  • Albert on Jun 25, 2005 at 8:40 am

    I agree with them all,selling slightly better than scrape metal.My 1996 proton is getting blister/rust bursting all over.Can we make a claim from proton for prducing such low grade cars. Enough is enough. Malaysia tak boleh!!!… beli proton saja.Nampak bankrupt of technologi.

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  • bangau on Jun 26, 2005 at 6:57 am

    Jonahdiary,

    cant put it in better words. Now only a few of the vendors are bumi. The best part is the Bumi vendours only supply parts to Proton. The non Bumi ones are also supplying other car makers but the parts for them are better quality.

    Proton should have weed out those no good buggers eons ago. They dont have to wait for TUV, but then again, Proton doesn't have the ball to kick out the bad vendours because of the political ties they have.

    Politicians are sucking our money.

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  • we know AP is for non bumi!.look here do u think Malaysia people do a Right thing for Malaysians?. There r doing for group of minority n some of group who benefit only but at the back there r loosing more then their never think it before!. Is like people feeding a idiot who don't no do business. If this corn cape is working, other country who long developing than us, why their don't have to pectic this corn cape that why this is doing for idiot to idiot. U no i no!. if there think it work give to all equal AP to boost up country economy to gather!. by the way wee all pay all TEX. stupid but don't like people to say there r stupid but their like to do stupid is like Perompak!. so wee all become indon than is good their think!.

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  • jonahdiary on Jun 28, 2005 at 7:56 am

    Bangau: there is no diff between bumi and non bumi company because there is only bumi and bumi-non bumi joint venture company since 30% of company shares should be given to rich bumi buta buta if the company is set up by non-bumi & esp if the company is rely on the government's project. According to our country's automotive industrial development history, quite some of the chinese and indian owned automotive assembly plants went bankrupt after the national car project established. in order to survive, they transformed themselves as parts & components suppliers.

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  • (bangau)lucky u not a PM other wise our country will like Indonesian.

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  • Norazman on Jul 14, 2005 at 4:16 pm

    anyone can help on AP?

    just want to know 1) what is AP? 2) what is the purpose? 3) who can get AP? 4) who issue/control AP? 5) where is the money pay for AP go/used?

    email me-

    TQ

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  • Lawrence on Aug 17, 2005 at 9:08 pm

    Guess we are not malaysians at all well criticising like usual complaining here and that hey malaysians true culture, national product bad / foreign product good hey what u guys have achieve. Proton produced by malaysians? or foreigners? yes correct malaysians like us well u think u can do better job. well sad to say we are looking at selling what we have hey continue the good work do all these while sell sell sell sell our country sell our women we will sell our mother just to get quick bucks. sorry to say malaysians still got long way to go in terms of mentality. hey any great solutions to this problems, yes but sensitive to voice so y comment since all of us is not helping. well just sit back and see the country rot this is the tidak apa attitude we have all embraced. no criticism no comment be gentle be sopan santun even business i dun think so, all comes down to dollar and sen. proton is cash rich and yet we are thinking of selling it y for more money? lack of confident in making the national car better. well weep for the nation. i think we should sell to VW so the next proton is going to be a beetle head hahaha…. well dun think under the nutshell if proton tech is not good y would these foreigners so keen on it. these means is the ppl factor in proton we should look at. yes T/Mahaleel is he that person to root out, maybe but i guess there are bigger problm ppl in proton. hey lets look at ourself the only ASEAN to have manufature car. Problems? have you own a mercedes recently damm e-class quality worse than proton. 10 recalls in a year 3 times on brake disc alone well. i still have my satria of five years the most expensive things i changed since is my clutch pad RM 450.00. well u do the math and i guess we would bow to foreigner even they give u guys a slap in the head. well i couldn't help commenting on this particular issue hope i got more time to continue….

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  • Lawrence on Aug 17, 2005 at 9:19 pm

    yes sorry got carried away on the AP haha… yes AP – Approve Permits. What is AP and what for – what ever we import we need AP to bring into the country for controlling purposes . Who can get AP – supposed to be ppl who import certain goods say car to be sold here to have a balance of trade with other countries (in terms of international trade). Who's in charge – yeah u do the thinking !!! hahah. Where the money goes – well this is the most interesting part, AP is just a permit fr the govt. no big cash sums involved just like paying licences but can be sell and resell. So where these money goes well to some or few bumis to buy helicopter and build helipads and big mansions on top of mountain and cliffs which most likely will go "tanah runtuh" in years to come on some poor ppl homes…well what a life.

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  • Lawrence on Aug 17, 2005 at 9:49 pm

    We should ask one question y AP's such as these given out without the cabinets knowing? And y until this issue? If not Dr.M raise what will happen to these ppl become billionaires without knowing. Hey y cabinet not making a single noise i wonder?????? this i can't understand. We know everyone wants a piece on these. Y the govt. wouldnt want to release in the 1st place. Is there a bigger scandals here. Is Raf a sacrificial element of a bigger things. Y Cabinet not taking any action after this issue and published AP list. Well nothing wrong in the AP list for we malaysians. Well hope the tidak apa attitude will not again take place in this. Is not the cabinet wants to know is the rakyat. Strong Rakyat or Weak Rakyat we shall see in this… we hope all malaysians better wake up or dun complain anymore cause this is your choice. We ppl of Malaysia should be strong and united to help the country as a whole not favouritism to a few or being a rigid individual. Dun think of yourself as a bumi,chinese,indian or others but as one nation. That's the only way to cultivate patriotism (which we dun have many at this point of time) be prudent have some dignity to be malaysians.

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