Loss to public coffers is the last consideration.

The Proton Perdana V6 Executive is top range national car supposedly a symbol of national pride of the country’s ‘achievements’ which is why state and government officials have to use it in official functions.

But what great acheivement is there really in the national car? We hear often enough all kinds of complaints from users – power window malfunctioning, high costs of maintenance etc.

True or not it is of course not comparable to the Mercedes E200 Kompressor because of the brand name “Mercedes” and the prestige it entails .

And what the state councillors and officials really want is “prestige”. They detest playing by the rules : that the national car deserves support, and if governmental and state officials do not support it, does one expect the rakyat to??

Terengganu state councillors and officials think it fit to now rebel. They have a leader in the Menteri Besar. The MB Datuk Ahmad Said wants to make a public statement. He is independent of Kuala Lumpur. He enjoys the patronage of royalty. His very appointment amid controversy and resistance from central government has, with royal support, prevailed. He also wants to make the statement that all this hype about Proton Perdana V6 Executive is but what it is – just “hype” and symbolism of pride grounded on no real justification. It is timely to make such a statement because Proton’s patron TDM is no longer in power. In his stead, the present PM who is perceived to compromise when pressure is exerted. That is why this half way – half baked – compromise of the Mercedes may be retained but used only by VVIPs – “foreign dignitaries” for “major functions”! Smelling “weakness”, at least 4 of Terengganu reportedly used the Mercedes when travelling to official functions and meetings – The Star (Front page) 27th July in defiance of the cabinet order. It is like saying to central govt. , “see what can you do to us”?

This fiasco is symtomatic of the state of affairs of governace for some time : a certain tendency for government and state officials to assert independence from a central government perceived weak under a political milieu when things fall apart!

It is also symtomatic of the hypocrisy, humburg and charade prevailing in governance for the last 20-30 years where pride and hubris is asserted as more important than real acheivements. Hence the importance of the national car, the importance of having the tallest building in Petronas Twin Tower, the importance of dubing our own Malaysian space tourist as an astronaut etc all in the “Malaysia Boleh” spirit unbacked by real acheivements backed by merits and excellence in any endeavour. Merits and Execllence are a shunned and unadmired principle incompatible with the social re-engineering program of the NEP upon which praxis the ruling party has been able to leverage on to stay in power.

Of course, Ahmad Said is not free from this malaise of hypocrisy when he cited costs of maintenance and burden of maintaining Proton Perdana V6 Executive to public coffers as the reason. Since when has the public coffer and loss to it ever been a consideration? Must be joking!

Pride, comfort prestige and “gaya” are the main reasons. These considerations have always been there, only now expressed more openly. However at least the MB dares to snub the central government by openly saying they prefer the mercedes over the Proton Perdana and challenging this “penny wise pound foolish” attitude of making a big hullabalo over RM3.43 million spent on the mercedes and nothing about the larger sums in the projects like Monsoon Cup and Islamic Civilisation Park, which he has asked the ACA to investigate. Indirectly he is saying, come on, the whole system is based on enjoyment of public coffers a part of which comprise Terengganu Oil money, so let our state officials and representatives enjoy these benefit and not just the pwoerrful calling the shots from KL.

Atr the end of the day, it and all political quarrels are about the spoils, sharing the spoils “equitably” and not monopolistically amongst the ruling clique and those connected to them. It is about prestige and pride, never mind not based on merits and fairness. It is about pretences not reality or truth. This is the singular ethos of governance amongst those in and connected to power that will bring the country, its national recources, productivity, currency and economy to steady descent in calmer times and a plunge in more turbulent times.