Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on December 16, 2019

Last week, Proton Holdings Bhd CEO Li Chunrong was reported as saying that the national car maker could finally return to profit this year after years of losses.

This would mark Proton’s first annual profit since China’s Geely — owner of Volvo Cars — bought a 49.9% stake in the loss-making company in 2017, injecting cash and new technology to help its revival.

Li also expressed confidence that Proton will remain profitable next year.

Recall that two years ago, after it was announced that Geely would acquire a stake in Proton from local conglomerate DRB-Hicom Bhd, certain quarters, especially the Sino-sceptics, were up in arms against the deal.

Concerns were raised that Proton, a national icon, was almost half-owned by a China firm. Some even went so far as to say that Proton would no longer belong to Malaysia.

Critics also pointed out that Proton was becoming a national liability. After more than 30 years and billions of taxpayer money pumped into it, its viability was in question. It was reported in 2016 that Proton had received RM13.9 billion in government assistance since it was set up in 1983.

The fortunes of Proton, which was owned by Khazanah Nasional Bhd, failed to improve after it was taken over by DRB-Hicom in January 2012. In fact, it dragged down the financial performance of DRB-Hicom.

Fast forward to today, and the car maker is on the road back to recovery. And Geely has managed to do it within three years.

Like it or not, sometimes, we just have to acknowledge the help of others who are more capable of doing the job. Perhaps ailing Malaysia Airlines Bhd can take a leaf from Proton’s book.

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