“The national car project made so much profit that it was able to build Tanjung Malim (plant) with its own money without borrowing any money from the bank or seeking government assistance.
“It was a profitable venture until the government started fiddling with it. They insisted on all kinds of things,” the former prime minister who led the country for 22 years told a press conference with Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders here.
He said Proton’s troubles were due to the policies of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who succeeded him, and the current prime minister Najib Razak.
In an apparent response to Najib’s recent attacks over his economic policies, Mahathir said the country’s economy was in good shape when he left the government in 2003, despite having gone through the Asian economic crisis.
“Things were doing well in this country when I stepped down. This is why I waited and did not step down in 1998 as we were facing a economic crisis.
“I left the country shipshape,” he said.
Mahathir set up Proton in 1983. It started production in 1985, as part of his aggressive industrialisation drive of the Malaysian economy.
At its peak, Proton dominated local automobile sales with nearly 80% of new passenger cars sold coming from its factories.
After his retirement, Mahathir was appointed chairman of Proton, but quit two years later in the wake of his fallout with Najib and his exit from Umno.
Last year, the government announced a deal between DRB-Hicom and Geely, under which the Chinese automative giant would have a 49.9% stake in the national car firm.
Mahathir today repeated that Proton’s failings had to do with Malaysia’s open automative market.
“We cannot sell our cars to their countries but they can sell any cars to ours,” he said. “There should be some reciprocity.”
Mahathir said Proton dealers would either have to close down their businesses or go bankrupt, following Geely’s takeover.
“Many dealers and vendors will close their shops because they have been ordered to reduce costs by up to 30%. That would mean they would go bankrupt. This would mean that they will resort to importing parts from China.”
He said this meant Malaysia was to become an importer of cars, and merely export Proton to smaller regional markets such as Thailand and Indonesia.