Your article o­n Proton's sales declining is expected, as everyone knows all along that Proton cannot compete o­n equal grounds with other makes. Even that, a major portion of the declining sales come from Iraq. It would be interesting to know at what price and at what terms the cars are sold in Iraq.

Besides the PM and a few people, no o­ne seriously thinks that Proton can survive without protection. The PM very often will say that when he mooted the idea, many people were skeptical as to the viability, and now they have been proven wrong. Actually, they have been proven right because the country has lost billions, in terms of subsidised duty for Proton.

No o­ne actually questioned the ability of Malaysia to produce a motor car. It's actually no big deal, really. Even countries like Rwanda or Bangladesh can produce their own cars if their governments are foolish enough to deploy large sums of taxpayers money to the project.

Looking back, Thailand seems to be way ahead in terms of presence in the automobile industry. They have access to the latest technology, and safety features, up-to-date designs, better emission control. The Thai auto industry provides jobs to hundreds of thousands of Thais and earn the country billions in foreign exchange through exports of automotive components and finished products.

The beautiful part about Thailand is that it did not cost the government a single baht, because the investments and risks were all borne by foreign investors and the government and people reap the benefit.

The o­nly thing about the Malaysian auto industry is that we tout the cars as a 'Malaysian car' or 'national car'. Actually there is nothing national or Malaysian about it, as o­ne can see similar cars overseas, but with the original brand name. There was o­ne occasion, just before the launch of a 'new' model, some bright spark produced a picture of the very same unlaunched model which had been in existence in another country for quite some time, and the top brass were fuming mad!

This is how we have been treated all this while, because besides launching obsolete models, we in Malaysia also get cars with specifications far more inferior that the o­nes sold overseas. So how have we benefitted from the so-called 'national car'?

The Malaysian auto industry is also wrought with constant intervention and is highly politicised. Shares of Proton have been shifted from o­ne government agency to another, within a short time, for undisclosed reasons. Petronas spent hundreds of millions to develop an engine, o­nly to be told that Proton is not interested in using it.

In a classic case of o­ne-upsmanship, the country has lost so much money. Petronas' position in the world oil industry must be unique, as it is o­ne organisation that is not in the auto industry, but has an engine, and unfortunately does not have the car to put it in!

In the process of trying to continue protecting Proton, so that it will not collapse, the government is now faced with an extremely delicate situation, whereby it has to honour its obligations to Asean and yet see to it that this company continues to survive. It has not come out with any definite policy post-Afta and its original excuse of suffering, due to the 1997 crisis has been proven a big bluff, as sales are at a record high and Proton is making tonnes of money.

The Thais know this, and are waiting for us to come out clean o­n this issue. In the meantime, we just have to continue to accept our fate, of having to pay heavily in terms of comfort, safety and pollution, so that this infant that never seems to grow will, hopefully, o­ne day, grow up and can stand o­n its own.