‘No need for new national car to uphold dignity of M’sians’

KUCHING: Padungan assemblyman Wong King Wei is of the opinion that Malaysia does not need another national car to better the image of the nation.

“We do not need another national car to build our pride, we do not need another national car to uphold our dignity,” he said when commenting yesterday on remarks made by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the annual Future of Asia Conference in Tokyo.

Dr Mahathir was quoted by Free Malaysia Today as saying that he planned to start another national car following Chinese automotive manufacturer Geely’s acquisition of a 49.9 per cent stake in Proton Holdings last year.

Wong asserted that what Malaysians need is to “eliminate all the corrupt practices and racial extremism” in order to make the nation great again.

He opined that Dr Mahathir’s indication on a new national car project was more of a diplomatic gesture given the function he was attending.

“In my view, the prime minister’s indication on new national car project was a diplomatic speech rather than a policy announcement in view of the timing and the place it was uttered,” he said.

Wong added that the speech was delivered in Japan, one of China’s neighbouring nations.

“As a very public transport oriented person, I am personally against the idea. We have seen what a national car does to us – it does not do us good in terms of city mobility and it did not make us proud as Malaysians.”

Wong had previously proposed to the Sarawak government to implement a public transport system to, among others, ease traffic congestion in the city.

He believed that the prime minister alone cannot make the call when it came to introducing or implementing another national car.

“Be that as it may, in Pakatan Harapan ( PH) the prime minister is not the sole person who can make the decision. The Cabinet will make the final decision.

“Tun (Dr Mahathir) will have an uphill task in convincing all other ministers and fellow Malaysians before we see another national car,” he added.

Dr Mahathir had last month said that the PH government would not buy back Proton Holdings, which was founded by him.

Established in 1983, Proton Holdings was the sole national car company until the advent of Perodua in 1993.