Wee: It will burden rakyat

PETALING JAYA: Another national car project will burden the people with higher car prices, MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong said yesterday.

He said public transportation should be prioritised above private car ownership.

“Due to our population size, Malaysia is considered a small market for automobiles,” Wee said in a statement.

“Starting a third national car company and to ensure its success can only mean reverting to higher protectionism, which will result in higher car prices across the board.”

Wee said Proton relied heavily on protectionism, which meant higher prices for not only non-national cars, but also Proton cars sold locally compared with those sold overseas. Wee added that it had been estimated that Proton ended up costing ordinary Malaysians up to RM300 billion over the past decades from much higher car prices for all cars and the correspondingly higher financing costs.

The former minister said the “colossal project” would cost millions, and asked Mahathir to clarify if the announcement of a new Malaysian car company had been “deliberated and determined by the Cabinet”.

“If this decision is indeed a Cabinet policy, then the government should engage with the rakyat for feedback and heed the response from the masses.”