Even leaving politics aside, I think the whole debate over the future of Proton and the National Automobile Policy (NAP) is filled with baloney and hot air.

Mahathir Mohamad has resigned as the prime minister since October, 2003. If indeed the government is sincere in fixing the problems in Proton, why was he appointed Proton chairperson as recently as May, 2014. Now, with his resignation a few days ago, suddenly cabinet ministers have become wiser on Proton and the NAP.

Before this, most ministers are blind and deaf supporting a company with no ability to compete and pursuing a national policy that has caused misery to a generation of auto users in the country. What is the point of talking now when my generation has been deprived a better car at half the price all because of our intransigence and false sense of national pride?

Suddenly everything is Mahathir’s fault. A day after his resignation, International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed came up with a ‘comprehensive paper’ on Proton and NAP. With due respect, nothing mentioned in the minister’s paper was new. This was what most Malaysians have been saying, clamouring and agitating for years but they have largely fallen on deaf ears.

Even Rural and Regional Development Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the minister who want to set up digital malls all over the country, was talking about rational economics, the downside of interference and the need for Proton to have strategic partners, market size and profits.

But why didn’t they think of all these before the government appoint Mahathir as the chairperson of Proton. Similarly, why didn’t they think about these before his resignation recently?

For years we have been pursuing a policy that is unsustainable and unrealistic and supporting a company that we think can defy the law of gravity. We tolerated inefficiency and subsidy and exploited Malaysian auto users to the hilt.

In the process we lost the opportunity to become the auto hub of Asean which could have attracted billions of foreign investment and generated thousands of higher value-added jobs. Our intransigence and hubris have become Thailand’s opportunity.

Suddenly our cabinet ministers have become smarter. Now they are talking economics, market, efficiency, prudence, and the downside of subsidy. I just wish that it is true this time.