Is Chinese carmaker Geely being anti-Malay in cost-cutting drive at Malaysia’s Proton?
It is just trying to turn over the fortunes of a national icon long in the red, says Geely as complaints from dealers told to smarten their act take on racial overtones that it is neglecting affirmative policy of favouring bumiputra
Proton, the long-ailing Malaysian carmaker partly acquired by China’s Geely last year, is under fresh scrutiny after Malay car dealers this week accused the company’s new management of being tone-deaf to affirmative action policies favouring the majority ethnic group.
Online, commentators panned the racially charged accusation as emblematic of a crutch mentality, while Proton – in the red for years – defended its cost-cutting measures at the centre of the controversy.
Did Najib sell Proton to Chinese because it was Mahathir’s brainchild?
Geely’s 49.9 per cent acquisition of Proton last May was immediately followed by sweeping changes at the company, with vendors who provide parts asked to slash prices and dealers ordered to offer enhanced services.
While the measures elicited grumbling within the industry, neutral observers say they were necessary for the company to return to profitability and arrest a reliance on government bailouts.
But Zainudin Abdul Rahman, the president of Pekema, the association of Malay vehicle importers and traders, in an interview suggested the new approach would force ethnic Malay, or “bumiputra”, dealers to close shop, and urged the government to intervene.
