Deal with the Issues, Not Personalities

It may surprise some that I do admire some of Dr Mahathir’s qualities though some of the things he did may raise some hackles.

So his call to discuss the AP problems vis-a-vis Proton for the benefit of Malaysia and not worry about personal sentiment needs serious consideration.

It appears that much has been written and analyzed about the APS so perhaps we will see a better system evolving soon.

On the other side of the coin, we should also examine the problems faced by Proton suppliers. Like the AP situation, where very little information was provided to the public, there is a need to discover why Proton suppliers are still struggling after so many years.

We don’t hear many complaints about the other national car, Perodua. In fact, I drove a Kancil for a few months and did get some thrills from it. It brought back memories of a Mini that I drove many years ago.

Are these some of the problems faced by Proton’s suppliers?

 Business incompetence

 Too much squeeze on margins

 Poor research and development

 Financial problems

 Kick-backs

 High reject rates

Since the government is the ultimate controller of Proton, it should do a proper study on how to make Proton more competitive.

Training entrepreneurs is a good practice but perhaps other methods need to be used like getting companies to hire some competent advisors and not fall back on old excuses.