REVERTING to the protectionist policies of the past to safeguard the Malaysian car industry is a regressive move that will burden the people, former prime minister Najib Razak said.

He criticised Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for his statement in the Dewan Rakyat today that the new government would consider setting restrictions on the import of vehicles to protect Malaysia’s infant automotive industry..

“The news that Malaysia will revert to protectionist polices of the 1980s and 1990s is very worrying.

“I urge the new government to consider this very carefully as it will burden the people again,” Najib wrote on Facebook, tonight.

“Malaysia is signatory to various international free trade agreements. Introducing protectionist policies will invite retaliatory measures from other countries. This will cause the prices of goods to be higher and reduce the competitiveness of our exports.”

Najib said while he was in office, his policy was not to raise car prices.

His administration took measures to ensure prices of imported cars did not increase, he said.

These included abolishing a 10% import tax on cars from Japan and introducing incentives for energy-efficient vehicles.

He said his government also stopped issuing approved permits to middlemen to import cars and gave the permits directly to the carmakers and distributors instead.

His government also introduced the GST which, at 6%, was lower than 10% SST, he added.

These measures were able to lower car prices by about 30%, Najib said.

“My administration also built public transport infrastructure to give consumers choice.”

Najib said was untrue that he did not support Proton as his government had given the carmaker a grant of RM1.1 bilion and loan of RM1.5 billion.

“Before my relationship with Dr Mahathir soured, my government supporting his idea for an electric car.

“A RM270 million grant was given to Proton in 2010 to work with a UK company, but this investment failed and the government decided not to continue with more funding. This made Dr Mahathir angry,” Najib said.

Dr Mahathir has said several times since taking office for the second time that Malaysia should revive its national car project. – July 30, 2018.