Proton has always been close to former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's heart. It was his brainchild.

Now with DRB-Hicom having sold a substantial stake to China's Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, the former premier mourned the national carmaker's fate.

Mahathir also wondered if this marked the beginning of the “great sell-out”.

“I am a sissy. I cry even if Malaysians are dry-eyed. My child is lost. And soon my country. Please excuse me.

“As I slip into my final years, month or days, I will watch as our beloved country is sold to foreigners to settle the trillion ringgit that we owe. We will have to sell more and more...

“What are our assets? Our land of course! That was what we did in the past.. We lost the land we sold. That is what we are doing now. And that will be what we will have to do - or forfeit our country like we forfeited Proton.

“It is probably the beginning of the great sell-out. The process is inexorable. No other way can we earn the billions to pay our debts. The only way is to sell our assets. And eventually we will lose our country, a great country no doubt, but owned by others,” he said in a blog posting this afternoon...