YOURSAY 'How convenient - five years would be GE time and BN would be dangling the same carrot to hoodwink the rakyat once more.'

Gov't to slash car prices in five years, says minister

Dont Just Talk: International Trade and Industry (Miti) Minister Mustapa Mohamed, another five years is just too long and what is the latest on the approved permit (AP) issue?

Do we need another five years to fatten BN politicians' bank accounts? Just do it, otherwise, please hand that portfolio to a Pakatan Rakyat leader and the problem can be solved within a year.

Doc: This looks like a whole load of rubbish talk or which I call "promises of heaven and earth" for which Umno is famous for.

Basically, Umno iS promising something that they are not keen in implementing but hoping that the rakyat will be gullible to believe them when they say they will slash the car prices by 20 to 30 percent over five years.

This is to buy time and to appease the irritated rakyat. In actuality, we know that if car prices come down, how is Proton going to compete against imported models?

In addition, what about the APs? We know that a number of Umnoputra's livelihood depend on the APs. Umno will never put the rakyat before themselves, which they have exhibited numerous times in the past.

What about the second-hand car sales market? They will be decimated. On top of that, Malaysia's economy is stagnant with no investment coming in. Slashing RM7 billion in taxes will hurt the nation's coffers and Umno's pockets, too.

Gunner: Mustapa, eliminate corruption, cronyism, mismanagement and practice good governance, the BN government will save RM20 billion a year.

Thus, you don't need the RM7 billion derived from excise duty. If only you know what good governance is all about.

Foo: Minister Mustapa, the excise duty is the only reason why car prices are so ridiculous in Malaysia. Please tell without reducing the excise duty, how are you going to reduce the car price?

Asking the car dealers to forgo their profit? Wait for another five years for the 20 percent reduction in price? No need, our household debt will breach 100 percent by then.

Relax: How convenient - five years would be GE time and BN would be dangling the same carrot to hoodwink the rakyat once more.

LittleGiant: It looks like the BN government ministers are fond of the term "five years" to resolve issues and fulfil the promises made to gain the voters support in GE13.

Is it some sort of "constitutional requirement" that problems and issues must only be resolved in five years? Why not a shorter period of one or two years for issues that can be resolved straightaway?

The response of Mustapa to the car prices issue is shallow and he seems to have no clue as to how he and his ministry would resolve it.

Ministers must be professional and demonstrate the government's commitment to resolve issues by providing clear answers or at least some firm outline of their plans and a meaningful time-frame to achieve it.

The rakyat are not interested in their "life is a balance" and hiding behind "we will solve it in five years" kind of statements. BN should work towards solving the rakyat's woes and not just think of the next elections, five years away.

Gemas: "The government will gradually reduce car prices by 20 to 30 percent in five years' time," said Mustapa.

This is not precise English. What does this mean? At end of five years, prices will be down by 20 to 30 percent?

Why can't he say that prices will be reduced gradually beginning next January by 2 to 5 percent, for example? This will not kill the market or employment.

Anonymous_4196: "He (Mustafa) warned that reducing excise duty and car prices in one go would have a serious impact on the industry, which offered 200,000 job opportunities and could further cause closure of businesses."

As far as we all know, lost of business and therefore jobs, is not due to lower excise duty but due to poor car quality and/or bad marketing.

If the car is good and the pricing is right, you will have the market and business sustainability. How do you think the Japanese and the Korean compete internationally?

Ramsingh: So you mean those countries with cheaper car prices are struggling with severe unemployment?

Then why, with all those plundering of public funds, no action is taken? If only BN have accountability for every cent spent, cheaper car prices would not be an issue.

Kgen: How on earth are car prices going to be reduced by not reducing excise duties? Asean-sourced cars already have zero import duties but the government loads them with heavy excise duties.

If you depend on market forces, car prices will go up due to inflation. This was a very dishonest statement by a dishonest B(arang) N(aik) government.

Mustapa's statement that it would be difficult to sell new cars as the prices of second-hand cars would also drop shows how little he understands the car industry or consumers.

Going by his logic, everybody would be buying second-hand cars now because they are cheaper than new cars. Why do we have ministers without any basic intellectual capacity?

Unmasked: Twenty to 30 percent reduction in car prices over five years works out to about five percent a year.

Inflation and increases in car prices for new models or even facelift models would have taken care of the proposed reductions.

So where is the 'real' reduction that BN promised in their election manifesto?

Enough of double taxation, get rid of APs

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