PKR Youth today lauded the sale of 49.9 percent of Proton shares to China's Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd as a positive move that could liberalise the local automotive sector.

"It is a fair and reasonable move which could ensure a liberal automotive sector, thus bringing down the price of cars for the rakyat.

"This eases the burden of car loan repayments which have been shouldered by the rakyat all this while," PKR Youth deputy chief Dr Afif Bahardin said in a statement.

He added that the move could also spur the soft national automotive market.

"We urge Proton to immediately reform its manufacturing, research and marketing processes to ensure this Malaysian-born firm can remain relevant and is the car of choice for Malaysians," he said.

Proton was founded to produce the national car by fourth prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1983 but was privatised to DRB-Hicom in 2012.

Geely is the first foreign entity to have a stake in Proton, marking the end of the national car project.

'We've worse problems than Geely buying Proton'

Meanwhile, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) supreme council member A Kadir Jasin said Proton should not be considered a national car even without Geely's participation since it is a private entity.

He said the purchase of stakes in key Malaysian firms by China entities should not come as a surprise given the big push for liberalisation under Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"This means anyone who has money can control the national economy," he said in a blog post.

Kadir, a veteran journalist, said depleting government funds, exemplified through the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST), also makes for prime conditions for foreign grab of Malaysian assets.

"On the outside, our economy is growing at a high rate but it is suffering bad from systemic problems - poor exchange rates, higher costs of goods and services, rising inflation, ballooning public and household debt, rising unemployment and stagnant salaries.

"So what is the big deal about the government allowing the sale of Proton to China, when the economy and public finance is suffering graver issues?" he asked.