Jobless Malaysians ‘small price’ for competitive car industry, Dr M says

(Malay Mail Online) – In a backhanded compliment today, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad applauded the Malaysian Automotive Industry’s recent remarks on the gains from opening up the industry to foreign competition.

A long-time champion of national carmaker Proton, the former prime minister pointed out that while others advocated opening up the local market to foreign marques, countries such as Japan, Korea, China and Germany still have a strict policy that bars the entry of Malaysian cars.

“So the consumers in Japan, Germany, Korea and China cannot enjoy the benefits of competition like their Malaysian counterparts,” he said in his latest blog post.

Known to be a car-lover, the 89-year-old however said competition should be measured against objects at a level playing field and argued that Malaysia’s industrial capacity is yet to be on par with Japan, Korea, China or Germany.

“We may win in a Quran competition but not, I think, in the automotive field,” he said.

Dr Mahathir said the government’s relaxation of its automotive policy supported the import of foreign cars and would cause wide-scale unemployment for the Malaysian car manufacturing workers, triggering a chain reaction on the local economy.

“However if competing is what we have to do to benefit the consumers, we will do it.

“If we lose we may have to close down. A hundred thousand or so workers, engineers and managers will lose their jobs. Their families will suffer. But that is alright because the consumers will get better cars at lower prices from foreign countries.

“So let us compete and let our consumers enjoy the benefit. The people who lose their job would not be able to consume. But that is a small price to pay,” the Proton chairman said.

The exorbitant car prices in Malaysia is a regular hot button issue, more so now as consumers face costlier fuel following a petrol price hike this month even as the ringgit weakens.

Dr Mahathir who was in office for 22 years until he resigned in 2003 has previously claimed there have been attempts to undermine his legacy.

He has hit out at Umno-linked television station TV3 over its critical coverage of national carmaker Proton, one of his pet projects that he helped develop in the 1980s.