The imminent demise of the Australian-made car Holden is a stark warning to Putrajaya to think carefully before signing the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), said former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He said the Holden was about to cease production despite the Australian government's annual grant of A$200 million (RM600 million) to General Motors, the owners of Holden.
In his latest blog posting, Dr Mahathir said the Holden was not selling well Down Under as consumers preferred foreign-made vehicles.
"Once Japanese cars entered the Australian market, it marked the death knell of the Holden. The Australian government saw Free Trade Agreements (FTA) as a lifesaver."
"They thought if they liberalised imports through FTA, there would be bigger markets for domestic products," he said.
Dr Mahathir revealed that he learnt a lot about the Australian automotive market during a visit there recently.
"Unfortunately, Australia discovered to its cost that its products could not compete with the products of its trading partners in terms of quality, design and price.
"Domestically, the Australian products were struggling to survive, what more abroad where there was less interest and customers.”
"Putrajaya was going about the wrong way to make Malaysia a developed nation by 2020, as spectacular buildings and shining skyscrapers would not help the country."
Dr Mahathir said Australia, like developed European nations, practiced socialist ideas such as increasing salaries and wages annually even if the businesses were not making a profit.
"The FTA has further aggravated the domestic scene as foreign goods flood into the Australian market without the same occurring vice versa," he added.
He said with the demise of Australian car manufacturers, the Australian vendors of components and spare parts have lost their market.
"But they do not need to worry as Malaysia is charging to their rescue. They have been invited to come and set up component manufacturing here," Dr Mahathir said.
"With cheap Malaysian labour, the Australians will become competitive again while Malaysian vendors will lose their local market, especially if the TPPA is signed."
He also pointed out that Putrajaya was going about the wrong way to make Malaysia a developed nation by 2020, as spectacular buildings and shining skyscrapers would not help the country.
He said that a lot of the foreign direct investment (FDI) which Malaysia attracted was for the construction of buildings.
"While the sums are huge, I do not think that Malaysia benefits that much. The technology used to design and construct the buildings is not something Malaysia does not already have.
"The construction of such buildings benefits the foreign workers more than it benefits Malaysia. The foreign workers will pocket their salaries and remit it back to their homeland."
Dr Mahathir said what Malaysia needed to improve its income was investment in high-tech industries, as higher qualified Malaysians could work in these fields.
He expressed confidence that there were a lot of qualified Malaysians in the market, noting that a few thousand vacancies in the government service attracted more than a million applications.
"For Malaysia to become a developed nation, we need to diversify. The shiny new buildings and skyscrapers do not mean Malaysia is a developed nation, whatever the per capita income may be."
Dr Mahathir, who once held the finance portfolio, said currently, the government placed emphasis on making sure that foreign imported goods were cheap for local consumption.
"This leads to outflow of funds, contributing to deficits which means the country's fiscal deficit gets worse," he said.
"Diminished market for local products can lead to the cessation of local production, which equals to lower purchasing power domestically and less money to purchase imported goods.
"The per capita income and Malaysia's Gross Domestic Product would also be adversely affected due to less consumption," Dr Mahathir said, adding he did not know whether this was good for growth. - January 11, 2014.
p/s: Setuju dengan Tun kali ni, sebab itu la kerajaan kena protect Proton dan tolong jangan tandatangani perjanjian TTPA itu.
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