Approved Permit Holders Sold 29,000 Reconditioned AP Cars In 2020
Yes, before you jump up and down and start hammering your touch screen in anger over PEKEMA and the many Approved Permit holders and their easy income by selling expensive imported vehicles, lets look a little deeper into our Malaysian Vehicle Approved Permit (AP) system.
Yes, there are a hundred plus AP holders right now and dozens of new AP holders have started business in the this past two years and we have even highlighted these ‘young’ car importers and questioned the need to have more AP holders in Malaysia when the general Malaysian car buying citizen is asking for the total abolishment of the AP system and the older AP Kings.
Where Is The Money Going
Well, after getting enough internet keyboard warriors hammering us, we know that the AP system will continue and it will probably grow in coming years. So there is no point trying to stop it and instead here is our question.
Why does the Ministry of Trade And Industry (MITI) continue to hand out new AP’s when car manufacturers in the country and Malaysian citizens continue to voice their objections to the AP system as some of them, like Audi, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Lamborghini have seen their sales drop because AP holders are selling the same cars at lower prices?
The answer may be quite obvious; however, it is best we look at another question first.
What happens to the RM10,000 fixed AP fee that is charged to every single AP holder in Malaysia for every single AP document they receive? Yes, each AP document has a RM10k fee that must be paid even before the imported reconditioned vehicle is sold.
This RM10,000 fee per AP document is paid to a bank account which is controlled by the Ministry Of Finance (MOF) and the beneficiaries is the Ministry Of Trade And Industry and MARiii (a government automotive agency).
Now, in my humble opinion, this AP document fee should be used by MITI and MOF for the betterment of our automotive industry (like what is done with taxes paid on all vehicles) in our country.
As a government department and agency should there not be a set of audited accounts presented yearly for PEKEMA and other stakeholders to know where the collected AP fee monies are being spent? This will also allow us to find out who the paid trolls are.
Citizens Right
As citizens of Malaysia, we should also have some information on what is being done with this money, especially right now when there are thousands of Malaysians losing their jobs, thousands having a very hard time putting food on the table for the family and having to keep a roof over their head.
The need to have transparency has never been greater and we are asking the same questions that the AP holders and also some car manufacturers in Malaysia have been asking.
- Is it wrong for a Malaysian citizen to ask how this collected money is being used?
- Is it wrong to ask who is being paid and to do what?
- Is it wrong to question a bloated office staff?
- Is it wrong to ask WHY the need for added red-tape in every function of our automotive landscape when we have been subjected to a National Automotive Policy (NAP2020) that remains the vaguest, uncertain and indecisive automotive policy in the region.
Investments Lost
You can search the internet and read what Indonesia and Thailand have done in the past few years for their automotive industry and this is why today both countries have moved far ahead of Malaysia in the automotive landscape. Both countries have managed to attract more automotive investment with the opening of new car factories, electric vehicle battery manufacturing plants, automotive component factories and even getting Tesla, Hyundai and Subaru to have their regional hubs.
Scared Little Boys
We are ready for the usual paid keyboard warriors to start hammering us on social media after this above is published and we understand their need to be rude and racists towards us as they have mouths to feed and this is the only way they can earn a living.
