Naza ready for anything, Proton doesn't care

Naza's mouth is wide open, ready and waiting to cash in on Proton's misery.

THE Naza Group stands ready to accept any number of shares in Proton Holdings Bhd should the Government decide to offer it a stake in the national carmaker, founder Tan Sri SM Nasimuddin SM Amin said yesterday.

"We are open (to any level of Proton stake for sale to us). If the Government offers 30 per cent, we will take it. If it's 22 per cent, we will (also) take it."

He [Nasimiddin] suggested that the authorities name a local partner for Proton first before identifying a foreign strategic partner.

"If we announce the strategic partner for Proton, it will be game over. The local partner should lead and look for a (foreign) strategic partner," he said.

Game over, game over lah. What's wrong with that?

Last I heard, the National Automotive Policy (NAP) wasn't implemented just to make you rich. If Proton is going to get a foreign partner anyway, why must Naza be made the middleman to... ahem... "lead and look for" one? Why add another layer to the negotiations? Why add another non-contributing shareholder to Proton's structure?

And meanwhile, Proton just doesn't care what happens to it.

Proton Holdings Bhd has no specific preference on the suitor for its strategic partner as discussions with foreign carmakers Volkswagen and General Motors are still ongoing, it's managing director, Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamad Tahir said.

If I were Proton MD/CEO, I would have already conducted a thorough analysis on the synergies with each prospective partner and be lobbying my testicles off right now, to make sure Proton gets the best chance of survival.

But then again, I'm not Proton MD. And I will never be as I'm too concerned with Proton's unprotected survival, and not concerned enough with the survival & protection of the parasites leeching off it.

Syed Zainal, however, declined to reveal the “sticky issues” that were probably causing the delay in finding Proton’s partner. He also dismissed a suggestion that similar “sticky issues” had caused the negotiations with PSA Peugeot to collapse last month.

Aiyo, do we really still need to ask what the sticky issues are?
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