LIBERALISING THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

Earlier he announced liberalizing 27 subsector in the service industry. He made a lot of people happy with the announcement.
Tomorrow he’ll be announcing similar liberalizing plan for the finance industry. I’m not sure what the plan going to be but many hopes it’ll be on foreign equity in the finance sector.
Many known that the finance sector in Malaysia is somewhat protected and almost close. Only recently we see a sudden surge in foreign finance houses coming into Malaysia. We’ve seen Citibank, Standard & Charted and HSBC increasing their presence in this country. So what’s next in store for us?
Last night during the news bulletin, NTV7 did a poll asking whether the government should consider abolishing Approved Permit or AP. The result came out with 98% respondents’ supports the suggestion to abolish AP.
AP is a thorn in the flesh for the government. When it was first introduced the purpose is to encourage Bumiputra participation in business. Unfortunately many had misused this opportunity. These basically irked the non-Bumis and many felt the exorbitant price we have to pay for automobile was caused by this approved permits.
Many parties had called for the abolishment of approved permits but somehow the government is reluctant to let it go.
The recent hive of activities in liberalizing a few sectors brought back the idea about abolishing the approved permits. Many believe now is the time to open up our automotive sector.
Our National Automotive Policy needed to be re-look into. We’re the only country in South East Asia with its own national automotive industry. Unfortunately we’re less appealing to other automotive brands.
We have well trained automotive expert who are at least by-lingual but somehow these are not attractive enough compare to Thailand with better policies and incentives for foreign manufacturer to set up base there.
They also have cheap labor and they foreign manufacturers felt language is not a problem for as long they just follow instruction.
Our local automotive industry can afford to run on its own without any protection. The recent launch of Exora showed that Proton can stand on its own merit. In a few years time they can compete globally. Getting rid and let them compete on equal ground will push them to work harder and improve their products in order to survive,
After the finance sector, I hope the Prime Minister will consider liberalizing the automotive sector. Let’s open up our automotive industry to make our product more competitive. Proton and Perodua need to live in real world where products are judged by their quality and service.
Like what Najib and his ministers are doing, Proton and Perodua need to talk to the rakyat too.