KUALA LUMPUR: A veteran of Malaysia's electronic and electrical (E&E) sector urges Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which manufactures Proton, to consider procuring locally-produced electronic car parts.
“Malaysia's E&E sector has already contributed to the automotive industry all over the world but here, Proton does not procure electronic parts from local suppliers,” said Penang Science Cluster founder Datuk Yoon Chon Leong.
“Malaysian-produced electronic car parts are exported at international standards and competitively-priced. We urge Geely to consider procuring more locally-produced electronic car parts,” he said.
Yoon was speaking to reporters at a seminar here today, jointly organised by AmInvestment Bank and stock market operator Bursa Malaysia.
“If we have to build a third national car, it will be nice for us to rethink the model on whether it should be fully electric and autonomous. Only then I think we are positioned better to talk about it,” he said.
“We just have to integrate the existing skills of the E&E players here and work closer to develop our capability further,” he added.
Touching on 5G technology, Yoon said Malaysia should proceed with its rollout while addressing concerns over violation of personal data privacy and security breaches.
“We have to be very careful with how we manage data security. There is a boom of security companies to help protect data, and it is actually a business in itself that Malaysia can actually play [a part in],” Yoon pointed out.
Last month, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) chairman Al-Ishsal Ishak reportedly said his team was assessing Huawei's 5G network with expert input from the National Cyber Security Agency (Nacsa).
Some Western countries including the US, Canada and New Zealand had banned Huawei’s 5G technology, citing fears over cyber-espionage.
Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo had said Malaysia would deliberate on MCMC’s comprehensive study before deciding on whether to ban Huawei from building its 5G infrastructure here.