KUALA LUMPUR – Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz revealed that the government had switched the official vehicle for ministers from Proton Perdana 2.4L to Toyota Vellfire 2.5L starting April this year.
In a written parliamentary reply dated November 2, Tengku Zafrul revealed that the monthly lease is RM5,759.35 per unit.
As of September, he said the government has paid a total of RM1.42 million to the concessionaire.
“The government started the process of switching the official vehicle for federal ministers from Proton Perdana 2.4L to Toyota Vellfire 2.5L in April. The government pays a monthly lease of RM5,759.35 for the Toyota Vellfire.
“The cost of the monthly lease consists of RM4,851.61 and RM907.74 for maintenance,” he said.
His written reply came after Sim Tze Tzin (Bayan Baru-PH) asked for the costs of leasing the Toyota Vellfire as federal ministers’ official vehicle.
For the record, before the fall of Pakatan Harapan (PH)-led government, the administration in December 2019 had considered the luxury MPV as an option, seeing that the company appointed to supply vehicles for the official use of ministers and senior government officers did not carry the local marque Proton Perdana.
However, then finance minister Lim Guan Eng said the government would keep Proton Perdana as the official car after the appointed vehicle company confirmed that there was sufficient supply of the local model.
In a press conference in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, Sim questioned the government’s decision at a time when the country is in a pandemic and economic crisis.
“The people are suffering. The government is only allocating RM500 to those who are disabled, single mothers and others, but the finance minister is giving RM5,759 to ministers. To me, this is a waste.
“There are local-made cars that can be given to ministers. It doesn’t have to be the luxurious Vellfire. They could use the Honda Accord, which is assembled by DRB-Hicom,” Sim said.
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He also posed a question to the government, asking for more details on the lease whether it was an open tender or a direct negotiation.
“If it is a competitive open tender, the government will be able to save money. We know that Perikatan Nasional-led and Barisan Nasional (BN)-led governments do a lot of direct negotiations.
“I want the government to respond whether it was done through a competitive open tender or a direct negotiation. We know that direct negotiations would benefit the company but not the people.”
In addition, Sim also called on former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who had previously slammed the PH-led government for doing a ‘U-turn’ on the car model switch after backlash from netizens, to voice his thoughts on this matter.
“When the PH government was discussing the switch, Najib made a sarcastic post on Facebook questioning why PH didn’t choose to use Proton X70 or the national flying car.
“If Najib is brave, make a new post to criticise his party. The prime minister is from his party after all,” Sim said.
‘Don’t blame me, ask atok and abah,’ says Najib
In return, Najib (Pekan–BN) took to Facebook today to air his thoughts, saying that the decision to change the official car to Vellfire has nothing to do with him.
“Why is it Najib’s fault? The one who suggested Vellfire for ministers in January 2020 was the seventh prime minister’s (Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad) government.
“In the end, the one who started changing (the official car) to Vellfire in April 2021 during the emergency and when there was no Parliament was the eighth prime minister’s (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) administration.
“If you want to ask, ask your ‘atok’ and ‘abah’,” the former prime minister said.
Najib also pointed out that in April, Muhyiddin said that the government did not have much money left to help the people after allocating RM600 billion separately for Budget 2021 and stimulus packages. – The Vibes, November 4, 2021
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