The appointment of Dr Mahathir Mohamad as Proton advisor is no panacea to national carmaker. It is just a temporary measure which will help obviate the inevitable collision between members of the Proton board and its CEO Tengku Mahaleel Ariff.

There is now no denying that Proton desperately needs a strategic partner not just to provide technology but also to open doors to bigger markets so as to enable it to build scale and scope to attain a more sustainable level of profitability.

We note that Mahathir seems to suggest that Proton has not been given a level-playing field that it deserves even when playing on its own turf, Malaysia. In emphasising this, he obliquely pointed out the huge investment that Proton had made on its own in developing its Proton City at Tanjong Malim and the spinoff effects for related industries.

Also the vendor programmes that Proton has developed that have tremendously helped in the development of small-medium industries (SMIs) in this country. Indeed, my own personal estimate seems to indicate that Proton has invested no less than RM7 billion in the last 20 years of its existence.

Mahathir is, of course, an excellent salesman for Proton with an uncanny ability to hide away its internal crises while exuding an air of cool comfort in that the company can still afford to take its time in finding a suitable partner.

At the same time he was visibly irritated that Koreans cars have been given 'national status' without having to make the same level of contribution as Proton has in developing the industry and the Malaysian economy.

To this extent we hope he appreciates how vested interests and abuse of political power can harm the country notwithstanding the fact that the national car project was doomed to be an albatross from the beginning.

The appointment of Mahathir as advisor to Proton is not likely to change the final destiny of Proton except to give it a longer respite before the storm hits.