FINAL WORDS OF WISDOM FROM DATO SRI SYED ZAINAL ABIDIN TO ALL CITIZENS OF PROTON

Well what can I say? The time has come to be separated from Dato Sri Syed Zainal. The following final words from him was translated from "Pesanan & Amanat Terakhir Dato Seri Syed Zainal", a humble man with a strong passion. During his tenure, Dato Sri whom always referred me as bro and preferred me to refer him also as Bro too never failed to aspire every individuals whenever he speak! He would hypnotized every members of the audience with his passion. His farewell speech was in Malay and I could not help but to translate it to English (dont laugh) to share his final words of wisdom with my readers. Of course, the translation would have been far better if Dato Sri were to translate it himself but nonetheless.....

**********************************************************************************

Good day, Salam 1 Malaysia and Peace be upon all citizens of Proton that I cherished. I hope this writing meets all of you in good health, joy and aspiration in carrying out our daily tasks. As all have known, I have given up my position as the Group Managing Director of PROTON effective on the 4th July, 2012. Taking into account the balance of my leave that I need to utilize, today which is Thursday 31 May 2012 will be my last day with PROTON. 

My dear brothers and sisters, 

It was very heavy for me to write this letter as a closure to more than six (6) years of my service in PROTON. I spent days staring at a blank computer screen as it appear, there are no words that can translate what I am truely deeply feeling in my heart. How could I leave something that has such a deep and meaningful impact in my life? How may I shake the hands and say goodbye to people whom I have regarded to be a member of my own family? There is no vocabulary that can express and extend my gratitude to everyone that has worked so hard in helping me performing my duty for so long. I have nothing to offer and I cannot afford to repay all the sacrifices, hard work and time that was devoted by all parties in your effort to realize the dream of PROTON without any remorse. 

DATO SRI SYED ZAINAL ABIDIN, PROTON MANAGING DIRECTOR (RETIRED)

When Dato Sri Syed Zainal first came into PROTON on 1st January 2006 taking over the  hot post from Joint-MD Dato Kisai Rahmat and Dato Kamaruzaman Darus, he called upon PEDA and the dealers to support him against 45,000 unsold stocks, the worst level of stock holding in the history of PROTON. Dato Sri Syed Zainal too inherited the burden to consolidate more than 400 over-congested showrooms in the sales network and took over when PROTON lost its no 1 position as Malaysia best selling cars.

In contrast to all previous Proton Managing Directors that would dictate on policies for PEDA and the dealers to swallow, when Dato Sri Syed Zainal was first appointed, he called and met PEDA to asked for market feedback and inquired on the network's problem. There were no PROTON EDAR Chief Executive Officer then, for more than a year. The communication was a direct channel between Dato Sri Syed Zainal and PEDA. Most of the public outcry and the dealer's issues pertaining to the low quality of cars were addressed, slowly resolved and mitigated. At this juncture, Dato Sri Syed Zainal even answered to various complain in Cyberspace and internet himself as the Managing Director. He personally attended to all the complains and directly commented on various blogosphere and cyberspace. He was also the first PROTON Managing Director that extended the manufacturer's warranty for all cars to a good 5 years (from previously only 2 years).

PROTON NETWORK CONVENTION 2011

15 December 2011. Two weeks before the year ended, all PROTON Edar branches and authorized sales and service dealers nationwide gathered at the Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre, Sunway Hotel Resort and Spa for the annual PROTON Network Convention 2011 and it was the first gathering attended by less than a month old PROTON Edar Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Suhaimi Mohamed Anuar.

This year's convention was a bit unusual. It was held towards the year end compared to last year where the convention was held earlier in April 2010. PROTON Edar Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Suhaimi Mohamed Anuar was the first speaker. PEDA had a good and fruitful first meeting and discussion with Suhaimi last month in November. Suhaimi was sensitive and understood the predicament of the dealers which was very important to PEDA given that the dealers network dominated almost 80% of PROTON domestic car sales. PEDA outlined a series of historical issues that requires urgent attention and Suhaimi assured those issues will be addressed in due course. During the convention, Suhaimi reiterated the need for all sales advisors to be productive and for dealers to only maintain a minimal number of Sales Advisers. Soon all Sales Advisers must be vetted and approved by PESB before any recruitment by the dealer. This is important to ensure the network employed only the committed and dedicated Sales personnel.

IS PROTON A 'MALAYSIAN' CAR?

I read this article with the above title "Is PROTON a Malaysian car?" at Lim Kit Siang's blog. The article was written by KJ JOHN and was first published on Malaysiakini.com on 30 August 2011 and re-posted on Lim Kit Siang's blog on 6 September 2011. KJ JOHN was in public service for 29 years and is now the dean of the Faculty of Economics and Policy Science at UCSI University, Malaysia.

The author first spoke on PROTON Managing Director Dato Seri Syed Zainal Abidin's personal experience with a taxi driver that was published in Ahmad Talib (former NST Managing Director) recent column. In that article, due to the misconception that the power window regulator will malfunction with high usage, Syed Zainal introduced himself, gave the taxi driver his personal handphone number, asked the taxi driver to use the power window and to call him if the power window malfunction when used (or overused). Syed Zainal assured the taxi driver that he will replace the power window regulator without charge-FOC if it malfunction. The whole objective was to correct the life-long misconception that had damaged PROTON's goodname. The confident of PROTON Managing Director to give his personal handphone number to the taxi driver speaks volume. The taxi driver never did call signalling the problem or the misconception was not true.

PROTON CHAIRMAN'S AWARD

"In conjunction with PROTON's 25 year anniversary this year, there could be no better time than to introduce the Chairman's Award" Mohd Shukor Ibrahim, Chief Executive Officer Proton Edar Sdn Bhd

Tun Mahathir is back in Proton...

.

Rumours had been rife of Proton take-over by various parties. PEDA committee had our last meeting with Proton Chairman, Yg Bhg Dato' Nadzmi Salleh today before the next PEDA Annual General Meeting and election.

There are many uncertainties of the future direction of Proton. Many questions being asked if the present government under Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak will maintain the current Government Link Companies (GLCs) policy adopted by Tun Abdullah Badawi government or revert back to Tun Mahathir's privatisation policy.

The government too did not provide any clear indication although the industry is reacting as if the future direction is back towards privatising those GLCs... hence privatising Proton back to....... Kisai? Al-bukhary....?

Whichever direction the government is moving toward, I am relieved to see Tun Mahathir's new office as PROTON ADVISOR at the Proton Centre of Excellent.

Tun is scheduled to be at Proton twice a month every month to ensure Proton is on the right track.

With all the on-going speculations of Proton take-over, we believe in Tun Mahathir, Dato Nadzmi & especially Dato Syed Zainal Abidin to steer Proton back into its glory.......

DATO NADZMI SALLEH- PROTON CHAIRMAN

DATO NADZMI MOHD SALLEH- PROTON CHAIRMAN

I am 12 years old… my age as a Proton dealer. It has been 12 years since I run my Proton dealership. I have been a member of the Proton Edar Dealers Association Malaysia (PEDA) since inception and was elected Deputy President for the past few terms. I was the 76th dealer that was appointed previously under USPD (or now known as Proton Edar) in 1997. The total dealer’s network idiotically grew to more than 400 dealers and now reduced to less than 300 and still decreasing.

I received an email from PEDA President as I was still recovering from the new year late night celebration notifying the committee members of his leave from the President’s office. PEDA President who operated his dealership for the past 14 years had surrendered his dealership and is taking leave as the president. Business cycle for Proton dealers has never been easy. Never since the 1998 recession… and now, we are faced with another recession. We swam through unfair competition of under-declared imported cars and public criticism against Proton but most detrimental effect was the internal policy introduced and implemented by past Proton management themselves unto the dealers: The appointment-spree of hundreds of dealers to chronies in a deteriorating market share and in the absence of sellable variance to excite the market. More than 100 additional dealers were appointed by Tengku Mahaleel management in anticipation of terminating EON. A political move that destroyed the dealers network and PEDA President became one of the 100s of casualties thusfar.

Under the PEDA constitution, the President post is left vacant when the dealership was surrendered and the deputy president will resume as the Acting President. I led my 15 committee members as the Acting President to officially meet the Proton new Chairman Yg Bhg Dato Nadzmi Salleh yesterday.

The meeting with Proton Chairman was at his request. We eagerly await the Chairman arrival at the Proton Board room while chatting Proton MD Dato Syed Zainal Abidin, Proton Edar CEO En Shukor Ibrahim and Proton Edar General Manager Sidik Abdul Hamid. Dato Nadzmi enters the Board room with his usual enthusiast. We saw immediately the passion of an entrepreneur at the driver’s seat.

In my opening speech to the Chairman, I conveyed my awkwardness in being the spokesman as PEDA Acting President which was inevitable when the President had ceased to be a dealer. I reiterate, the president as one of the hundreds of casualties of Proton incompetent policy as earlier mentioned. PEDA is duty bound by constitution to our members and advocate strongly for nurturing and rehabilitating the dealers as opposed to any downsizing.

Although I could not disclosed the details of the meeting, I mentioned as my closing statement, in my 12 years tenure as a Proton dealer as well as a member and now Acting President of PEDA, Dato Nadzmi is the first and ONLY Chairman that called upon PEDA, EDAM within less than a month of being appointed as Proton Chairman. This is also the first meeting in the history of PEDA that was chaired by Proton Chairman with the attendance of Proton Managing Director, Proton Edar Chief Executive Officer and General manager simultaneously.

PEDA has a good working relationship and has always been in constant regular discussion with Proton MD and Proton Edar CEO. Dato Nadzmi pro-active initiative and approach to understand issue pertaining to the network signals a fresh and energize start for the New Year and in anticipation of the recession.

This meeting attended by the prime movers of Proton, Dato Nadzmi (Proton Chairman), Dato Syed Zainal Abidin (Proton MD), Shukor Ibrahim (PESB CEO), Sidik Abdul Hamid (PESB GM) and PEDA full committee is also a signal of GREAT TEAMWORK to weather ahead of recession. This show of solidarity will strengthen Proton to re-gained its market share and become the industry leader.

There is only one mission from the great teamwork… the public. Without the recognition from the public, we will still fail. The teamwork mission now is to give Proton sense of belonging back to the public. The public is indeed our one and only employer.