Universiti Malaya's Prof Dr K S Jomo said today the government's over-protectiveness of the national car, Proton, was one reason for the country's inconsistent stance in trade policies.

Proton is internationally uncompetitive and it has poor prospects of ever becoming internationally competitive, he said.

"It seems that whatever Malaysia says about trade policies, it is seriously constrained by the fact that it has to protect Proton and Perodua," said the outspoken professor who is a known critic of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's economic policies.

"We are not able to take a stand which is consistent," he added.

Edaran Otomobil Nasional Berhad is Malaysia's leading distributor of motor vehicles. The company has diversified into various sectors including financial services, general trading, manufacturing and properties.

Jomo was speaking at a public lecture Globalisation for Whom? A World for All organised by Institut Kajian Malaysia dan Antarabangsa or Ikmas at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Bangi, Selangor, in memorial of the late renowned economist Prof Dr Ishak Shaari who died of cancer last year.

Jomo raised issues about globalisation and how it affected developing countries in general, and Southeast Asian economies in particular like Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

The lecture touched on the five economic aspects of globalisation, namely international trade, foreign direct investment, international finance, intellectual property rights, related technology issues and changing international governance.

Professor Emeritus Dr Awang Had Salleh officiated the lecture and Ikmas director Rogayah Mat Zin delivered the opening address.

Policies change

In line with his inconsistency theory, Jomo said government policies continue to change over time.

The objectives of the National Economic Policy which begun in the 1970s seemed to be abandoned in the 1980s to favour privatisation and strengthen private corporation, he added.

"There was a Look East Policy for a brief period which was subsequently narrowed down into trying to emulate the Japanese work ethics. Now, we do not talk of such a thing anymore," he said.

"We also know that it was disastrous to promote heavy industries in the mid-1980s. This has resulted in two big albatrosses in the Malaysian economy, (other than Proton) the other one being Perwaja [national steel company]," he added.

Jomo emphasised that "the big scandal in Perwaja was not what went into the Swiss Bank for that accounts for less than a hundred million ringgit. The scandal is what happened to the RM10 billion".

The Anti-Corruption Agency has investigated Perwaja's controversial RM10 billion debts and losses amounting to some RM76.4 million believed to be in Swiss banks.