A deputy minister’s remark that a car import permit (AP) in an open tender is worth up to RM60,000 has proved that Pakatan Rakyat's low car-price pledge is viable, says PKR.

NONE “If APs issued annually reach 70,000 as estimated, the country and rakyat would lose RM3 billion to RM3.5 billion each year,” argued its director of strategy Rafizi Ramli.

This was because the International Trade and Industry (Miti) only charged RM10,000 for each permit, he said.

This, Rafizi added, meant that RM50,000 of the potential income was lost for each AP annually - money that could be recouped once the permits were issued via open tender.

The RM4 billion in extra income a year can also be used to offset any losses from the gradual reduction in excise tax, which must be done to reduce car prices.

Rafizi was picking up on what Miti deputy minister Muhkriz Mahathir said last Friday when addressing Umno members in his parliamentary constituency of Jerlun in Kedah.

Nationwide cheaper cars forum

According to media reports, Mukhriz at the session belittled Pakatan’s pledge on cheaper cars, saying that if an AP was given out on open tender, it would cost as much as RM60,000 and plus the actual price of the car, it would mean increased car prices.

NONE Meanwhile, PKR communications director Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad ( right ), who was also at the press conference, said Pakatan's cheaper cars pledge was not "populist" as claimed by BN leaders but a "common sense" policy.

Nik Nazmi said Pakatan need not wait for a high income economy to increase the people's disposable income and allow them to have a higher standard of living, since this could also be achieved by reducing prices and slashing excise duties.

He also announced that Pakatan would be organising a #TurunHargaKereta (Reduce car prices) forum that would start in Klang Valley and then tour the entire country.

Featuring PAS' Kuala Selangor MP Dzulkefly Ahmad, DAP's Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua, Rafizi and think tank Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs director Wan Saiful Wan Jan, the forum would be moderated by Nik Nazmi.

The initial forum will be held at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall at 8pm on Thursday, at which the forum road tour would also be officially launched.

NONE Nik Nazmi said the forum would explain to the rakyat how Pakatan would make its cheaper car pledge a reality and where the money to sustain the move would come from.

He said Pakatan would also address feedback from members of the public who have raised questions on how abolishing car excise duties would affect the economy and their concerns on its impact on public transport.

On a related matter, Nik Nazmi said Pakatan has also set up an online store selling #TurunHargaKereta stickers and T-shirts, which have been snapped up by eager hands during the initial campaign and there have been numerous inquiries to purchase these.

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