The Govt. Should Abolish A.Ps.

The revelation of the A.P. list merely
confirmed what the Tun had said all along that too
many A.P's were given to only a few individuals.But
what is most shocking is Rafidah's defending the
policy of giving out so many A.P's to so few
bumiputras.No one can deny that A.P's are licence to
print money because the permits are marketable and
easily converted to cash.The open A.P's are especially
in demand and can easily fetch $50,000 per permit.The
demand for such an A.P can be seen by this example. A
Ferrari from Europe will cost about $500,000.If you
buy an A.P at $50,000 your cost will be
$550,000.Without an A.P after paying excise and custom
duties the cost of the car will be in the vicinity of
$1.5 million. (custom and excise duties at 150%)
Rafidah seems to make a big deal that
Nassimuddin was able to get five or six franchises
from different companies from all over the world.But
the fact of the matter is that when you have A,Ps the
foreign principal companies come looking for you and
not vice versa.You dont even have to lift a finger
because the foreign principals know that if you can
import cars at a cost of $11,000 without paying excise
and custom duties, it is a virtual certainty that
their imported cars will sell like hot cakes.With the
franchise A.Ps you don't even have to have any
expertise in the automative industry to make a
handsome profit.All you have to do is add a margin
that is not below proton cars price and presto you are
printing 40k to 50 k for each A.P.
What is most sickening is Rafidah's statement
that it is a workable scheme that she will continue to
practice.Surely a scheme that only enrich a few
already rich bumiputras cannot be deemed to be
equitable.If such a scheme is allowed to continue, the
N.E.P will certainly not be able to be achieved in a
100 years.The wealth will remain in the hands of a few
wealthy malays while the rural heartland of the malays
will continue to remain impoverish.
The govt should abolish this skewed method of
wealth distribution and devise a more equitable system
that will ensure the poor rural malays will benefit
from its N.EP policy.
The A.P scheme is certainly not a suitable
vehicle for wealth distribution.The billions of
dollars that would have been collected from the excise
and custom duties should rightly go to the country's
coffers.From the revenue collected, a scheme that is
more equitable in wealth distribution should be
implemented so that the 30% equity in the economic pie
can be attained by all the malays.