I bet some of the ultra-nationalist in our country highly regard the products we export to other countries, food products, clothing, computers, chips etc. I got no problem with those stuff but one thing that doesn't do justice to our country's image is our cars. Sure, Proton has come a long way from being a mere car assembler of rebadged Mitsubishi cast-offs to making its own design and engines, but there is always the issue of QUALITY. To be truthful, the newer Protons have slightly better built compared to the earlier ones and the new chairman has acknowledge the quality issues in Proton cars (compared to the previous chairman's emphasis on sportiness and putting aside on quality). But everyone can just talk and say a lot of hope but the results from what was said and promised are the most important things.

This puts us in the lower and usually ignored range in the automotive world. Proton is the pet project of our previous PM and Proton is the "national pride" of our country and it represent our country, albeit on wheels. That's the main reason why negotiations between Volkswagen and Proton on a promising partnership ended up with nothing as Volkswagen wanted to be the major stakeholder in Proton and Proton has its "national pride" issues, which makes them hostile to any foreign takeovers. Perodua stands a better chance in terms of built quality, since they're under Daihatsu and Toyota. But that is still not enough when compared to other marques as demonstrated by Jeremy Clarkson from BBC's Topgear, who said that we make cars in the jungle...

Anyway, being a car enthusiast, Mr. Clarkson had the opinion that some car companies are greedy and put profit first rather than passion, which appalled him a lot. I believe that is awfully true, not only in the motoring business but also in other sectors. Money shouldn't be the driving motive for any business, passion should be the one. Passion nurtures quality and craftmanship, whereas money nurtures power and volume. I found this video on YouTube.com and it's about Mr. Clarkson destroying a brand new Perodua Kelisa, which leads us to the title of this post. Should we laugh at it? Or should we be insulted and outraged by his actions? I like to take this lightly and treat it as something to brighten up my day. What say you, dear reader? (If there's any, haha). Well, I must say, Mr. Clarkson is a little too much sometimes....

http://www.youtube.com/w/Jeremy-Clarkson-Destroys-Perodua-Kelisa?v=easZ2lhNOcs&search=top%20gear%20kelisa
(It takes a while to load, but it's worth waiting!)