Almost two years since I wrote about the high cost of owning automobile in Malaysia. Since then so many related issues have cropped up, most prominently was the squabbles between Proton and MITI about the Approved Permits for imported cars. It has gone to Parliament where issues of abuse of power by MITI for granting APs only to a few individuals was raised, and the lack of patriotism for letting Proton market share decline against the onslaught of this imports was also pointed out. The debate was so convoluted that the way the government cool it off was to issue an outline of National Automotive Policy(NAP) with details to be announced later.
In the meantime the Minister of Transport revealed in his Press conference recently that there are now 15 million vehicles registered compared to 7.6million in 1976. It is projected to grow at 20 percent per annum and at this rate the number of cars will reach 25 million in four years time. I wonder where will the trend lead us: more road fatility, less mobility due to congestion, worsening pollution, car junk yards everywhere etc.
Poor Malaysian have been hoping for better public transportation for years so that they don't have to own a car. But no one will help them, since the politician who lead them cannot make any money from running public transportation. Corrupt politician continue to govern Malaysia with no end in sight.
