The other morning, I was in my boyfriend's car when the rearview mirror fell off, plonk, just like that. Needless, to say, the car is a Proton an Iswara Aeroback in its ugliest makeover to date (the earlier models at least were not painful on the eye). Another interesting detail that really oughtn't shock anyone is that the car was brand new, fresh from the dealer's. The reluctant and coerced Malaysian car buyer had taken delivery of it a mere day before.

When I related the incident to a friend, she said the Proton was under warranty and could be taken to our national car maker's service centre for the mirror to be fixed. True enough. But would we risk driving long distance through rush hour traffic 'blind'? And wait an entire day for the repair to be done? The cause of the problem? Proton used the wrong size screw to affix the mirror, the neighbourhood mechanic told us.

With the new-generation Protons, Murphy's Law applies: what can go wrong, will. Still talking about my boyfriend's car in its baru beli (purportedly pristine) condition: the steering wheel and the wheels were not aligned. On the car's 1,000km maintenance check, the EON mechanic had this to say of the complaint: " Biasalah tu." (That's normal)

Here is another means by which Proton merits entry into the Malaysia Book of Records: it provides the Malaysian driver his very own built-in sound effects studio in his home-made automobile. When this Cronesian car (manufactured under the auspices of a crony company) goes faster than 60km/h, passengers can hear the wind gushing through, and this is with all the windows up. When the speedometer breaches 100km/h, the air-condition shuts down of its own volition. The hood rattles and the back seat squeaks.

Reading Eric Chin's letter about his Proton Waja running solely on first and reverse gears (and I'm sure many other readers can chip in with horror stories of their own as such trying ordeals are the norm rather than the exception), it appears that the pride of Cronesia Inc expects Malaysia Boleh feats from local drivers.

Sitting in that baru (several weeks 'old') car, I heard ominous crackling noises, like that of wires short-circuiting, coming from somewhere under the glove compartment. 'Be afraid', indeed.

At that point, the air-condition had already revolted against national service and was not functioning. When the not-at-all-proud owner of that Proton took his Iswara to the service centre (at the 1,000km milestone) and specifically asked them to look at the air-conditioning, he was assured "No problem, everything hunky-dory." Again, are we surprised that he commenced to spend hours on the road with the windows down and his shirt soaked in the hot sun?

He then took the car to a private workshop and was told all the gas in the air-condition had leaked. Replacing the gas cost RM50. But the long-term solution requires the compressor to be replaced. The reason: the unit used in the Proton is too small for the size of the car. To replace it with one that works better would set him back another RM450.

Currently over TV, Proton has the immense cheek to air that ad of theirs. The company is well aware that the shoddy workmanship of its cars is indefensible.

So what does it do?

Divert the issue by making that tired, over-used appeal to nationalism they're providing jobs to a whole bunch of mediocre workers. And Proton expects everyone else who has had to, as a last resort, buy their lemons to put up with a situation that sucks simply because Proton is a privileged and protected concern.

Because Malaysians are short on memory and long on patience, and resigned to putting up with sub-par national utilities, services and governance. Because we are Malaysians a 'grateful lot' who are 'thankful' that we live in this 'peaceful, harmonious, and blessed land'.

I only have this to say: Malaysians deserve the cars we are driving because ultimately we are the ones who have kept Barisan Nasional in power and thus helped sustain the 'Boleh' practice of privatising profits and nationalising liabilities. Shame on Proton but we have ourselves to blame for Cronesia.