cookie-cutter comments

Aishah Ahmad of the Malaysian Automotive Association tells the Proton Vendors Association to suck it in! Or up! Or whatever!

A-ma-zing, not three months after Dr Wan Mohamed called for very restrictive measures against cars of certain capacities and Vehicle-End-of-Life policies, the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) has called for vendors to be less “Proton-centric”!

How’s that for a knockout blow? Now that champion Mahaleel’s effectively out of the picture, these sycophants don’t seem to have a voice anymore - even Mahathir’s given up on Proton (yay!).

[more..]

Rafidah must have done or said something the members of the Cabinet didn’t like, because she’s been told to shut the hell up, check this out: here. I waited the whole latter half of the afternoon for news from the Cabinet meeting, and hopefully an announcement of the NAP (National Automobile Policy) or some indication of its release.

Instead we get this blistering news. At the time of this post, there’s still no official word from Bernama.com.my, and I suspect there might be an attempt to hush things up.

Which of course makes me burning to know just what she said. Would it have been inflammatory? Most definitely, if such an injunction comes from the Prime Minister’s Office itself.

This in at the heels of an article in The Age and the Beebs.

Isn’t it fun to be Malaysian, eh? The drama never ceases.

And, being typically Malaysian, I’m gonna go get wasted after having spent a good part of the day stoned.

;)

We were driving back after a long, drawn out job and coasting past the beach off on the left with the windows down and latin jazz blaring from my car speakers. I remarked that Ibrahim Ferrer had past away and I get a blank response. My car weaved past traffic and he sighed, saying how this was the way life should be. A car, a long empty stretch by the beach, winds from nowhere and good music.

And don’t forget the sun, I thought.

“It’s the quality of life,” I said, tapping the wheel, wondering about the coming holiday on Thursday.

“Not just the quality of life, it’s the money,” Morgan said. “Can you imagine what you’d be doing if you had money? I mean, there are other problems in life that are just as big, but to have money and not have to worry about so many things–”

“Yeah, money, but the only way you’re gonna get enough to satisfy you is to rob a bank. I’ll be your sidekick, let’s do it,” I quipped, laughing. We’ve been discussing bank robbery since we realized how much it would take to start up a business of our own. I was at Public Bank at Jalan Wong Ah Fook not a week past and was scoping out the security system because, like, it’s the sort of thing we do in our line of work. Nothing, security cameras, yes, motion detectors: none. Mag strip detectors at entrances: none. Guards with big guns: yes, but they were packing shotguns and they were old men.

“Yeah, we could rob a bank,” I said again, laughing.

“Oh yah, we rob a bank, spend the rest of our lives on the run and with lots of cash. It’s kinda pathetic,” he said, giggling.

“Well, it’s something to do..” I said.

“Look at that,” he said, pointing out to our right. I turned to look, my car now stationary and stuck in a drawn out traffic jam. A beemer sauntered past, a 5-series black beauty with some sort of bodykit, the kind that would immediately bring to mind chow ah bengs with too much money.

“Bastards,” I muttered.

“What would you do to get a car like that?” he asked

“You mean, what would you have to do to drive a car like that? And who wants a beemer? It’s a yuppie car. It’s yuppie-fied. It’s for the nouveau riche with no taste or class,” I said.

“And you wouldn’t want one if you were given one, of course.”

“No, I’d take it and sell it,” I laughed, “and then get myself a proper non-depreciating asset.”

“Bloody idiot,” he smirked.

“But I wouldn’t buy a car like that,” I continued.

“And who could? Would you pay half a fucking million for a car?” he said, as he peered at the canopies that had lined up ahead of us, shiny in the evening glare.

Who would? I wasn’t a car enthusiast by any stretch of the imagination. I wanted to switch cars, but the need was strongest about a year ago when I was convinced I could get a good, affordable deal. I wouldn’t say Morgan badgered me into thinking about getting a new car, or even a new 2nd hand ride, but I was made to see the deficiencies of my current set of wheels — deficiencies that become glaring when attempting a 60 degree turn at 90km/h. Body roll, squeeling tires and a dangerous sense of being on the edge of control. That’s good enough reason to get something lower to the ground, more stable and the potential after-market parts can provide.

But you know how things are like in Malaysia with all things auto related. New cars are overpriced, old cars are beat up and you wouldn’t want to be caught holding on to an asset that won’t be worth much when you wanna sell it. That and recent measures to push up prices for cars that aren’t Protons have confirmed, for me, the government’s direction: starve out the competition, bully the populace into buying local makes for the sake of — and get this — nationalism and national pride (eh?!).

About a year ago when I was seriously car-hunting, I used to look forward to the announcements on the government’s stance with regards to the automotive industry; now, I look forward to Proton’s failure and a well-placed bomb during full parliamentary sessions. I know neither will happen, but I can still live in hope, can’t I?

“Stick to something else,” Morgan said, after hearing me out.

“Funny that coming from you,” I laughed, after reviewing exactly how much he had spent on his car.

“No, seriously. Things aren’t going to change, so why run up against the wall?” he said.

I thought about that last night, while flipping through the August 2005 edition of Autocar magazine. Looking at the prices listed convinced me that such magazines were catering more and more to people who could afford cars that cost as much as houses (or more). “0-100-0″ car tests, new car announcements with exorbitant price tags; fuck all of that. I’ll stick to die-cast matchbox cars from now on.

They’re hilarious and they take a generous, generous swipe at Proton… another rib-tickler (at the expense of Proton, who else?!)

Credits to Sedi @ Autoworld forums.

Link to thread: Clarkson wants a Gen2!!!
Direct link to file: Here!

It’s official, I suppose: the largest quantity of APs issued to Syed Azman and Mohd Haniff are probably resold to companies that do the actual selling.

Check out Jeff Ooi’s brilliant write up on this.

Didn’t Syed Azman say Weststar had such and such number of vendors and service centres here? So are they Weststar’s or Honda’s? And what about his other companies?

I don’t know, I’m confused….

So, really, what’s the relevant, substantive difference between owning Open APs and Franchise APs? Did these two gentlemen actually have to do anything at all to get Honda Motor Co Ltd, Suzuki Motor Corporation and GM Daewoo to hook up with them? Just what sort of deals were going on behind the scenes?!

The question that’s on my mind is: “Who can you trust?”. I can imagine that some would be grateful with Mahathir’s recent comments on the AP issue, amongst others; that sparked off a debate and ‘war of words’ between the ex-PM himself and one of his own loyalists.

But who’s the bad guy, here? I’ve read some posts in forums and it seems as if people are happy that the AP issue is finally coming to light, but I suppose the question of importance to me is, how does that make Mahathir any less culpable? As he remarks, he was once the Minister of Trade and Industry before Rafidah, and should therefore have some inkling of the backroom deals going on in that ministry.

But to come right out and say he didn’t know things that were going on during his administration? I don’t quite know how to think about that. Firstly, I find it hard to believe that such rampant corruption went unnoticed under his very nose.

To think that is perhaps tantamount to accusing Mahathir of either a blindness in that regard, or outright accusing him of culpability in the goings-on at Rafidah’s ministry. That is to say, I’d be accusing Mahathir of incompetence or corruption, which no one should because neither accusation is based on fact.

Secondly, if I were to accept that Mahathir did in fact know what was going on in Rafidah’s ministry, then I would be accusing him of allowing the very corruption that he’s now trying to expose to carry on, and I would pile on another criticism, that of hypocrisy.

And now he’s threatening to release further information, citing secret communications, remembered meetings and such. The details, at this stage, seem to be less important because, to my mind, a few things will happen for sure:

• More sordid details will be revealed
• More people will become implicated, but things will stop before it tarnishes the top politicians…
• Rafidah will probably step down or if she remains, will now find that she has next to no influence anymore
• Badawi, if he’s not collaborating with Dr Mahathir in this chess game, will find some way to silence him

What bothers me is how people are taking definitive sides in this saga, either for the release of the APs or not. The plain fact of the matter is, what first started out as a complaint that APs were allowing Proton to lose market share has now turned into a witchhunt of sorts against those who seemed to have benefitted under Mahathir’s rule.

In the first place, shouldn’t both ’sides’ be equally tarred?

The Star has characterized the issue as a spat between a “mentor and protégé”, and even the contents of the article by Joceline Tan is full of the same kind of emotionally charged language. Perhaps that’s what this National Sandiwara really is at its heart: divided interests and divided loyalties. What got my goat, however, were these:

Shortly after landing at Subang airport on Sunday, he told a close friend that he had “saved Rafidah three times” in the past, the implication being that he expected more respect from the International Trade and Industry Minister.

But he was no longer interested in an apology.

And…

And if that is not enough, Tengku Mahaleel himself has some stories to tell which he is not telling yet.

So, basically, Mahathir probably knew what was going on, was keeping silent all this while, and when push came to shove, he played his trumps. Yes, one will conclude that it’s merely politics, and politics is dirty. However, the problem is one of consequences: what, if anything, will happen to Mahathir?

And yet there are those who are, get this, grateful that Mahathir’s now exposing all the bullshit that went on in MITI.

Update: as at 3.07pm, I have received an SMS alert from The Star citing Dr Mahathir who, apparently, says that the government is good, and that APs were given to the wrong people now and then, and added that those were minor things.

A deal behind the scenes finalized between shadowy parties? An agreement to seek a compromise? Or did Mahathir suddenly become aware of the hypocrisy of trying to expose the corruption underlying the issuance of APs?

The normal disclaimers apply: i’m just linking the video clip, and the clip in no way expresses my utter disgust at the um thing, the thing they said. I didn’t upload the clip, I’m just linking it.

The things they were saying, I mean, bloody brits thinking we make cars in a jungle clearing! Bastards!

Clip is from the… was it the 10th July ‘05 broadcast of Top Gear? Not sure.

Said clip mentioned anew (news of this made an appearance about 2 weeks back) in this thread, Topgear video savvy humiliation here.

Direct link here.

On a serious note, they don’t really have a good opinion about Protons over there, and consequently take a rather dim, if not insulting, view of Malaysians.

Update: the above links don’t seem to be working anymore. Paultan.org has put up a page hosting the vid. Check it out here.

Hot off the presses, Bernama has an article spotted at Screenshots on the press conference given by Dr. Mahathir on the much talked-about non-renewal of Mahaleel’s contract with Proton Berhad.

Jeff Ooi detects some bitterness from the press release, which could be substantiated by the following:-

“Apparently there was no willingness to consider (Tengku) Mahaleel’s views so he refused to sign and the board decided not to renew his contract,” Dr Mahathir told a press conference here today.

and here:

Dr Mahathir also said Tengku Mahaleel’s ability to run Proton was cramped after he was removed from the chairmanship of major Proton subsidiaries.

But it seems Mahathir won’t let sleeping dogs lie. I received an SMS alert from The Star stating that Mahathir considers the AP list just revealed to be incomplete.. and he’s now demanding for the release of the 2004 list of AP recipients.

I suppose no one knows what’s going through his head, but I do think he might be acting recklessly, and trading on the goodwill he’s built up over his years in office. To what extent is he willing to pursue the matter?

I can only imagine Mahaleel’s leaving as a blow to Mahathir’s efforts to, perhaps, retain some control over his last remaining pet project. That’s perhaps not to say that Mahathir privately agrees with Mahaleel’s policies, maybe, but since this is speculation it should be disregarded.

Both seem to have a particularly acute aversion to any major foreign involvement, a mentality that would do the UMNO Youth proud with its undertones of affirmative action.

This dismantling of the old guard, this transitory phase between the Mahathir era and a post-Mahathir era makes for interesting drama at the very least. Taking apart power structures and making way for new ones shouldn’t be surprising and I suppose, happens in any regime. It’s what gets cast into the light that, more often than not, disappoints and reaffirms my abhorence for the incumbent.

Bloody bastards, all of them.

Saw this at the Autoworld forums.

Link to Bernama article here.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 (Bernama) — Tengku Tan Sri Mahaleel Tengku Ariff will no longer be group chief executive officer (CEO) of Proton Holdings Bhd effective Sept 30, 2005 as his contract with the national car manufacturer has not been renewed by the board of directors.

He has been with the company for more than nine years.

Proton said Datuk Kisai Rahmat, currently Director of Operations and Datuk Kamarulzaman Darus, currently Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Proton Tanjung Malim Sdn Bhd, have been appointed chief operating officers of Proton Holdings effective Tuesday to replace Tengku Mahaleel.

Talk about being unceremoniously booted out:

Tengku Mahaleel, 59 will be on leave with immediate effect till the end of his tenure on Sept 30 this year, the company said in a statement to Bursa Malaysia here.

If he’s Mahathir’s golden boy, what’s the status of Mahathir’s perceived authority in Proton now?

I am confused: if Mahathir was aware that there was corruption of the sort of levels revealed by the reason AP debacle, does it make him anymore blameless now that he’s exposed them?

Questions of that aside, the burning issues still on the minds of many at the Autoworld Forums is how the APs awarded to the main recipients have been used. Paultan.org notes that there has been a discrepency of conditions required for the receipt of APs. Weststar purports to own several service centres and showrooms with which cars imported are sold. Among the cars purported to be sold are Honda and Chevrolet cars. A recent discussion on this in the Autoworld forums can be found here, and a pertinent question that Paul Tan has noted is this: aren’t Honda cars distributed and sold by Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd? And aren’t Chevrolet cars distributed by Hicomobil?

When I first saw this in the Autoworld forums, I was incensed. I thought the money was only really being made by those who could secure Open APs, a recipient of which could import cars of any model or make, kinda like an ‘open license’. Franchise AP holders are supposed to have in place the necessary infrastructure for distribution within Malaysia; it makes me wonder just how many of those 100s of distribution centres claimed by Weststar are nothing more than shell companies.

***

You know, when faced with situations that are seemingly hopeless, laughter becomes the only possible response. I wonder just how many people are incredulous with the recent revelations running up to the UMNO General Assembly. I wonder, too, just how many non-Bumiputras listened or read with horror the pronouncements coming out from various parties. Seeing Hishammudin brandishing the kris splayed across the front page of one of the dailies gave me the shivers, and the subsequent announcement by Badawi that UMNO had never, to paraphrase, deprived non-Bumiputras of their rights gave me the chuckles for a brief moment.

Badawi’s conclusion becomes only superficially true because, yes, non-Bumis have rights just like everyone else does, prescribed by the Constitution. But what do “special rights” represent? Special rights seem to be rights normatively prescribed for one class of people in Malaysia. The positive and concealed fact affirmed by his pronouncement, however, remains that there are some people who deserve more than others.

It was a chance meeting on the road. Richard was heading off for lunch and I happened to be driving right behind his car. A few shouted comments past each other’s wound-down windows and I found myself enjoying some really good wan ton mee near Century Gardens.

Much of what we discussed will not find its way here, but the upshot of it revolves around the fact that he’s doing really well, and that I should, to paraphrase, consider moving elsewhere. And I have, for the nth time considered this.

But considering options at this stage would be premature. I know my worth; I was confirmed in it about 2 months back when I had an alternative offer. But plans are plans, and they must be followed through, if only to gain that bit of information I require to make my decision. I will have to see if AK delivers on his promise/word. If he doesn’t, then we must part ways, no matter the relationship we have.

Talking with Richard is always a game. He tells me what he wants me to know, perhaps wishing me to distribute the information, and sometimes he tells me things to convince me of his own position; i.e. he usually has a hidden agenda. This lunch session was no different, but after chatting with him for about 2 hours concerning work and everything in between, I realised why Koh maintains a fascination with him; he makes you feel as if you’re not an employee, not a ma chai or underling, but an equal.

That and the fact that we used to be closed to Richard, made me miss talking to him. I came away with a sense of what was out there in the market, and the sort of opportunities I was letting slip past me. It was a good experience overall.

Speaking of turning corners, the government seems to have decided that importers of foreign cars which compete directly with Proton are to be levied heavy charges for, apparently, under-declaring their values at Customs and selling them at competitive prices to customers in Malaysia. A snippet of this piece of news can be found here at the New Straits Times website.

The affected brands would be Kia, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Chery, Fiat and Mahindra Scorpio. Korean cars, in particular, have been enjoying burgeoning sales in the past few months due to competitive pricing; in the light of alternatives to Proton, many have taken refuge in purchases of these cars, and who can blame them? Their levels of quality, especially so for Hyundai cars, are very high.

The furore over this imposed charge, of 30% against sales price for vehicle capacities 1.6 litres and below, and 38% for vehicles above 1.6 litres is considerable, but the government has waved them off, noting that similar charges were imposed last year.

In response, the Association of Malay Importers and Traders of Motor Vehicles president Datuk Abdul Hamid Ibrahim has come right out and declared that said brands would not survive due to the immense competition in Malaysia, which is probably double-speak for saying “Only Proton will prosper”. This news snippet can be found here.

See, my question is: why isn’t anyone looking into the culpability of the Immigrations Officers who approve the imports of these vehicles? Open market prices for the vehicles of the affected brands are available; if they are available, Customs should have taken the trouble to investigate the prices being declared and if they did, they would have brought up charges against these said importers, wouldn’t they? But why didn’t they? Throughout the AP debacle, the Immigrations Department has been conspicuously silent; it’s time someone high up start asking questions of them.

But apart from that, I can imagine the sheer frustration of people who are looking to buy cars from other makes besides Proton; a Hyundai Getz 1.6 now retails at RM 77,000.00 OTR. This is already exorbitant for a car that is considered elsewhere as a ‘budget car’. An increase of 30% against the sales price would push that figure up to RM 100,100.00, about the price of a Proton Perdana 2.0 V6. What the hell?!