THE workers’ union of Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd have called for the government to support a homegrown train manufacturing industry, following talks of a revived Proton-Indonesia joint venture.

“If Proton can be developed, why can’t we have our own trains? We should focus on our rail industry so that our country can develop,” said Railwaymen Union Malaysia president Abdul Razak Md Hassan.

Razak said locally-produced trains would bypass the need to spend RM5 billion to purchase train sets from China.

“We buy them from China and as you know, Chinese products are not high quality,” he said at Ilham Tower today after meeting members of the Council of Eminent Persons.

On Friday, following bilateral talks with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced the revival of a joint effort between Proton and Indonesia to produce an Asean car.

Proton and PT Adiperkasa Citra Lestari have signed an MoU to conduct a feasibility study and explore the specific areas of cooperation.

Razak told reporters today that a government-backed train manufacturing industry could produce wagons to be sold to neighbouring Asean countries.

He also added that the RM81 billion East Coast Rail Link project should not have been given to China.

“It would have been beneficial if they had given it to KTMB. We have 130 years experience (running the rails).”

Razak told the council that KTMB’s locomotive wagons needed to be upgraded to carry cargo in order to increase profit.

“The previous government did not heed our advice and KTMB slid, with the workers made to be the scapegoats after the company did not perform,” he said.

He said that the service needed “professionals” and not politicians in the management.

“I stressed to them that the appointments (to the board) should not be political. (The directors) must come from the professional community. They have a business mindset. When they are political, they are biased. We don’t want that.”

KTMB is expected to report a net profit for fiscal year 2017, its first after almost two decades of losses, its newly appointed CEO Mohd Rani Hisham Samsudin told NST Business recently.

A major contributor to profits is a rise in passenger ticket sales, he said. KTMB has lost almost RM3 billion since it was corporatised in 1992. – July 3, 2018.