Amidst the boardroom commotion and speculations of strategic alliances with foreign partners, here is a peek into what our new Proton advisor can advise with regards to the core product itself.

Readers who are well versed in Japanese may wish to refer to an article in a Japanese magazine (Voice of Design, Volume 6-1, July 2000) produced by the Japan Institute of Design.

The writer of the article brings us to the time when Dr Mahathir Mohamad came to Japan on a mission ostensibly to design the Proton Saga for the citizens of Malaysia.

The writer of the article queried the Mitsubishi engineer who was in charge of design thus: 'If you allow an amateur, a medical doctor regardless, to design the car, will he not mess up the whole thing?'

The Mitsubishi engineer replied: 'We will let him touch only areas that are not critical, such that any choice he makes will still result in the overall consistency of design.'

So, our then prime minister came with his advisor, an Englishman. Note that this visit was conducted at the height of his Look East Policy. And, what options did Mitsubishi Motors allow our man to make? Three: the steering wheel, the door handle, and the tail lamp.

In many ways, this saga (along with others like Renong and MAS) reflects the miserable state of affairs in the Malay corporate world. Barring some exceptions, the people running the show seem to know next to nothing about the trade, often relying on unrelated arm-twisting tactics to bulldoze their ill-conceived plans across.

Leading automobile companies are pouring more and more of their R&D resources into producing next generation cars running on environmentally friendly fuel. Nearer to home, the progress made by Thailand in her automobile industry policy translates into a tight slap on Malaysia's face.

The message, clearly being, it is high time to wake up and be real. It will be very interesting to see if this dead horse, the once mighty Proton, can reincarnate itself in the coming months.