Chance Of A Lifetime

Yesterday morning, I arrived at the office half an hour late. It was one of those mornings when nothing seemed to go right. Mia couldn't start her car—it's an automatic Proton Waja. Apparently, the battery was dead again. It was just about a week or two ago that she bought a new battery for her car. She tried it a few times, but the car still couldn't start.

It just so happened that it's Mia's turn to send JJ to her grandparents' (JJ's on school holidays). Since her car couldn't start, I had to send them instead. Mia's office is in Alam Mesra, which is miles away in the opposite direction from my office. But, y'know—Murphy's Law—of all the days, it had to be yesterday morning that a stupid bus broke down on the highway, thus creating a massive traffic jam all the way to my office.

Anyway, as I said, I was late. It's not the first time that Mia's Waja gave us trouble like that. But this time, Mia was the problem. She somehow tried to start her car when the gear was at "D". So this is a good lesson, folks—whenever you can't start an automatic car, the first thing to make sure is that the gear is set to "P".

However, at other times, Proton cars are unreliable (although the engine seems OK). Since Mia bought it about 4 years ago, she's changed the motor of the power windows twice. And I found out that Proton has had that problem since its first car rolled out of production some 20 years ago. That same problem also prevails across the board for most of its models. It is hard to imagine that they haven't solved that problem for such a long time. In fact, I am not sure if they even tried to solve it at all.

In recent years, Proton has been losing its previleges. The protection by the Malaysian Government has been gradually declining. It must have been difficult for the Malaysian Government to let Proton grow up on its own. It's about time too! But, you know, in some ways, the Government still protects its baby—sometimes, it is not easy to let go. Hence, this appeal to give Proton a chance...

I am sure if we are patient enough, Proton would be able to solve the problem with the power windows within the next 20 years. That is if it's still in business then.