‘Third car project must not go the same way as Proton’

PETALING JAYA: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng must provide additional guarantees – in black and white – because it is not enough to merely assure the public that the proposed third national car will only involve private funds and not government investment, says MCA.

Party deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong pointed out that although Proton was completely privately owned in 2016, the government had no choice but to bail it out with a RM1.5bil soft loan.

This was so that the national car company could repay its debts to vendors and save an estimated 30,000 jobs in the company as well as those in its supply chain, he said.

“Whether Proton is owned by private companies or not, during the 30 years that Proton was in existence, ordinary Malaysians had to bear as much as RM360bil in the form of higher car prices and its correspondingly higher loans, higher car insurance premiums and higher spare parts costs.

“Our Finance Minister has to guarantee that no protectionism will be imposed that can cause car prices to increase,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Dr Wee, who is Ayer Hitam MP, said Lim should also guarantee that the third national car project would not be bailed out by the government via direct loans, grants or guarantees should it run into financial woes.

There should not be any special treatment given to the privately owned third national car company, he added.

“Nor should there be any cross-subsidy to their owners indirectly as what had happened when a government fund was forced to buy a building at a very high price from the firm that helped bail out Perwaja steel.

“If the minister can make those additional guarantees in writing, then the third national car project should and must enjoy the full support from all Malaysians, including myself,” said Dr Wee.