The handling, awarding and distribution of AP or Approved permit for vehicle by Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) have long been a contentious issue. In 2009, the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Car Dealers and Credit Companies Association has suggested for the government to open APs to all or give a quota of 30% to bumiputras with the rest open for auction. In response, the Deputy Minister of MITI, Datuk Mukhriz has announced that formulation of a new mechanishm for AP is one of the Ministry’s top priority.
Now what is an AP? AP is a license to enable one to bring in a completely built up vehicle. The AP does not waive one from paying taxes. The issue on AP was hotly debated and received very extensive media coverage in 2005. APs in the market previously are dubbed as the wonder paper as it enables one to generate risk free profit. The AP was issued initially to encourage and set a platform for Bumiputra players to participate in the automotive industry.
However, the AP instead evolved into a trading paper and the value hit nearly RM50,000 per AP. Before the debacle in 2005, there are two different type of AP namely franchise AP and open AP.
For Franchise AP holder, the AP is tied to a certain franchise or mix of vehicle. However, do not be mistaken that it is necessary for a franchise AP holder to have an extensive showroom and service centre. Most franchise AP holder merely acts as a middle man where it plays the importer role and in most cases not extensively involved in the retailing and after sales of the vehicle. Each AP for each vehicle is sold ranging from RM20,000 to RM50,0000 to the actual franchise distributor. The franchise distributor that has to invest huge capital to develop its network is unable to import the vehicle itself but dependent on the franchise AP holder. In addition, the franchise AP holder collects its money upfront regardless of whether the car is sold by the distributor to the end customer. Some franchise AP holder even requires that the franchise distributor appoints the AP holder company as the company for pre-delivery inspection and fitting of accessories resulting.
Meanwhile for open AP it is not tied to any particular mix of vehicle and it is usually for what the industry term as ‘recon car’. Open AP are usually for MPV, 4FWD and cars models that are not carried or serviced by the main distributors. As Open AP is not tied to any franchise mix or vehicle it is more ‘tradeable’ and easily ‘sold’ hence considered more lucrative to obtain.
Based on media report in 19 July 2005, a total of 67,158 AP whereby 49,632 AP relates to franchise AP and 17,526 relates to Open AP. The people dubbed as AP kings in the media reports in 2005 are Allahyarham Tan Sri Nasimuddin SM Amin, Datuk Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim, Datuk Mohd Haniff Abdul Aziz and Datuk Azzuddin Ahmad as they receive more than 28,000 AP of the total 67,158. Assuming the minimum value of each AP is RM20,000 the AP issued out in 2005 would be valued at RM1.3billion. This is just one year and apparently the AP system has been in place since 70’s and actively in place since 1997 onwards. The AP did not cost the government any cost except paper and administrative cost yet the holder potentially could have yield RM1.3billion in one year. Sadly it is the consumer and rakyat who bought any CBU units that have contributed to the AP holders’ coffers.
Subsequent to the 2005, MITI has subsequently issued franchise AP to franchise distributor directly after much effort by the franchise distributor. As such, most franchise AP holder is the franchise distributor but there is no certainty it is 100% as there is severe lack of disclosure and transparency of information on the allocation of AP. Hence, I believe that the call by The Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Car Dealers and Credit Companies Association to open all AP or to reserve 30% for bumiputra and to auction the rest relates mainly to Open AP.
In November 2008, during parliament session, the Deputy Minister of MITI has replied that the total AP given has been declining from 70,381 APs were issued in 2005, 60,460 in 2006, 50,304 in 2007 and 44,168 this year. The decrease in AP cannot be attributed to the fact that there are strict controls by MITI rather it can caused by numerous reasons. For example, the decrease can sometimes be due to the fact the distributor no longer import the vehicle in CBU but is assembled in Malaysia like Mercedes , hence no AP is required. The other contributing factor is that due to high oil price, the purchase of MPV, 4FWD and big cc cars have slowdown considerably in 2008. The amount of AP disclosed would provide more insight if the type of AP issued is also disclosed.
Assuming the percentage of franchise AP to open AP for 2005 (26%) is similar to 2008, thus for 2008 the open AP issued are 11,400 open AP. With a value of RM20,000 per open AP, thus the potential value of the AP issued is RM228mil yearly.
As such, I support and hope that the MITI would implement the idea mooted by the The Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Car Dealers and Credit Companies Association to encourage transparency in the allocation AP and to increase the revenue of the Government. Opening up the allocation of AP would also benefit the consumer as they will not be overburdened by the overpricing of AP held by selected few. It would also promote fair competition among car dealers as the AP is auctioned. This would also avoid cases, whereby car retailers that do not possess any AP are held ransom by the AP holders as they cannot meet their delivery and purchase stock without AP.
By introducing the auction concept, the complication relating to the selection process and control on the AP can be minimised. The 30% AP allocated to Bumiputera should not be tradeable and should be allocated to those that are genuine car dealers and distributor. I believe this would at least help the Government achieve the goal of creating a class of bumiputra entrepreneurs and uplifting the economic position of bumiputras. Currently based on the available information and judging from the media report in 2005, the AP system has not really achieved its objective as only a handful bumiputras that benefit from the AP.
As long as the AP issue is not resolve, it can remain a time bomb as the allocation is shrouded with secrecy. It would continue to create discontentment among non-bumiputra entrepreneur involved in the car industry as they are dependent on others to obtain license as most of them would not be able to obtain AP even though they have the financial and technical capabilities. Likewise, bumiputra entrepreneur would also have the same opinion if only selected few bumiputra or the politically connected remain to receive the AP. Meanwhile, if there is no revamp, the favoured would continue to amass great wealth at the expenses of the Malaysians.
Ultimately, scrapping the AP would be the best option to open up and liberalise the market, but further study would need to be carried out on the potential impact to assemblers and also the national car industry. While protectionism is unhealthy it is not detriment in every case for example in the US, the agriculture industry is heavily subsidised and the steel industry receives heavy protection.
Now what is an AP? AP is a license to enable one to bring in a completely built up vehicle. The AP does not waive one from paying taxes. The issue on AP was hotly debated and received very extensive media coverage in 2005. APs in the market previously are dubbed as the wonder paper as it enables one to generate risk free profit. The AP was issued initially to encourage and set a platform for Bumiputra players to participate in the automotive industry.
However, the AP instead evolved into a trading paper and the value hit nearly RM50,000 per AP. Before the debacle in 2005, there are two different type of AP namely franchise AP and open AP.
For Franchise AP holder, the AP is tied to a certain franchise or mix of vehicle. However, do not be mistaken that it is necessary for a franchise AP holder to have an extensive showroom and service centre. Most franchise AP holder merely acts as a middle man where it plays the importer role and in most cases not extensively involved in the retailing and after sales of the vehicle. Each AP for each vehicle is sold ranging from RM20,000 to RM50,0000 to the actual franchise distributor. The franchise distributor that has to invest huge capital to develop its network is unable to import the vehicle itself but dependent on the franchise AP holder. In addition, the franchise AP holder collects its money upfront regardless of whether the car is sold by the distributor to the end customer. Some franchise AP holder even requires that the franchise distributor appoints the AP holder company as the company for pre-delivery inspection and fitting of accessories resulting.
Meanwhile for open AP it is not tied to any particular mix of vehicle and it is usually for what the industry term as ‘recon car’. Open AP are usually for MPV, 4FWD and cars models that are not carried or serviced by the main distributors. As Open AP is not tied to any franchise mix or vehicle it is more ‘tradeable’ and easily ‘sold’ hence considered more lucrative to obtain.
Based on media report in 19 July 2005, a total of 67,158 AP whereby 49,632 AP relates to franchise AP and 17,526 relates to Open AP. The people dubbed as AP kings in the media reports in 2005 are Allahyarham Tan Sri Nasimuddin SM Amin, Datuk Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim, Datuk Mohd Haniff Abdul Aziz and Datuk Azzuddin Ahmad as they receive more than 28,000 AP of the total 67,158. Assuming the minimum value of each AP is RM20,000 the AP issued out in 2005 would be valued at RM1.3billion. This is just one year and apparently the AP system has been in place since 70’s and actively in place since 1997 onwards. The AP did not cost the government any cost except paper and administrative cost yet the holder potentially could have yield RM1.3billion in one year. Sadly it is the consumer and rakyat who bought any CBU units that have contributed to the AP holders’ coffers.
Subsequent to the 2005, MITI has subsequently issued franchise AP to franchise distributor directly after much effort by the franchise distributor. As such, most franchise AP holder is the franchise distributor but there is no certainty it is 100% as there is severe lack of disclosure and transparency of information on the allocation of AP. Hence, I believe that the call by The Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Car Dealers and Credit Companies Association to open all AP or to reserve 30% for bumiputra and to auction the rest relates mainly to Open AP.
In November 2008, during parliament session, the Deputy Minister of MITI has replied that the total AP given has been declining from 70,381 APs were issued in 2005, 60,460 in 2006, 50,304 in 2007 and 44,168 this year. The decrease in AP cannot be attributed to the fact that there are strict controls by MITI rather it can caused by numerous reasons. For example, the decrease can sometimes be due to the fact the distributor no longer import the vehicle in CBU but is assembled in Malaysia like Mercedes , hence no AP is required. The other contributing factor is that due to high oil price, the purchase of MPV, 4FWD and big cc cars have slowdown considerably in 2008. The amount of AP disclosed would provide more insight if the type of AP issued is also disclosed.
Assuming the percentage of franchise AP to open AP for 2005 (26%) is similar to 2008, thus for 2008 the open AP issued are 11,400 open AP. With a value of RM20,000 per open AP, thus the potential value of the AP issued is RM228mil yearly.
As such, I support and hope that the MITI would implement the idea mooted by the The Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Car Dealers and Credit Companies Association to encourage transparency in the allocation AP and to increase the revenue of the Government. Opening up the allocation of AP would also benefit the consumer as they will not be overburdened by the overpricing of AP held by selected few. It would also promote fair competition among car dealers as the AP is auctioned. This would also avoid cases, whereby car retailers that do not possess any AP are held ransom by the AP holders as they cannot meet their delivery and purchase stock without AP.
By introducing the auction concept, the complication relating to the selection process and control on the AP can be minimised. The 30% AP allocated to Bumiputera should not be tradeable and should be allocated to those that are genuine car dealers and distributor. I believe this would at least help the Government achieve the goal of creating a class of bumiputra entrepreneurs and uplifting the economic position of bumiputras. Currently based on the available information and judging from the media report in 2005, the AP system has not really achieved its objective as only a handful bumiputras that benefit from the AP.
As long as the AP issue is not resolve, it can remain a time bomb as the allocation is shrouded with secrecy. It would continue to create discontentment among non-bumiputra entrepreneur involved in the car industry as they are dependent on others to obtain license as most of them would not be able to obtain AP even though they have the financial and technical capabilities. Likewise, bumiputra entrepreneur would also have the same opinion if only selected few bumiputra or the politically connected remain to receive the AP. Meanwhile, if there is no revamp, the favoured would continue to amass great wealth at the expenses of the Malaysians.
Ultimately, scrapping the AP would be the best option to open up and liberalise the market, but further study would need to be carried out on the potential impact to assemblers and also the national car industry. While protectionism is unhealthy it is not detriment in every case for example in the US, the agriculture industry is heavily subsidised and the steel industry receives heavy protection.
由国际贸易及工业部处理和发出的外国汽车入口准证（AP）的课题争议已久。最近，雪隆汽车经销商及贷款公司协会建议政府全面开放所有AP，或保留30%给土著，其余公开拍卖；而新任贸工部副部长拿督慕克力则宣布，该部首要工作是实行新的AP制度。
那，什么是AP？AP是一张让拥有者从外国整装进口汽车的执照，有AP不等于可以免税。AP课题在2005年掀起讨论热潮，之前，AP被称为是“无风险的盈利”保证书。实际上，AP的原本的用意是鼓励土著业者参与汽车业。
不过，AP最后成了一种交易商品，一张AP要价近5万令吉。2005年之前有两种不同的AP，一种是连锁AP， 一种是开放AP。
对连锁AP拥有者来说，AP是汽车连锁店或汽车行使用的。不过，不要以为这些拥有者一定要有展示厅或服务中心。他们当中许多人只是扮演中介角色，即只是进口汽车，没有涉及售卖汽车或售后服务。他们以每辆汽车AP价格2万令吉至5万令吉的价格，卖给真正的汽车经销商。所以，那些投入大量资本设立联络网的汽车连锁经销商，不能自己入口汽车，反而要依赖AP持有者。而且，AP持有者是先收钱，不管经销商卖不卖得出车子。一些连锁AP持有者甚至要求连锁经销商委任他们的公司成为售前检查及安装配件的公司。
另一方面，开放AP并不限什么进口什么车款。这种AP通常是用来进口多用途汽车、四轮驱动车及主要经销商没有进口或服务的车款。由于开放AP不限进口车款，所以就更容易“卖出”和有利可图。
2005年7月19日的报道指出，在6万7千158张AP中，有4万9千632张是连锁AP，其余1万7千526张是开放AP。被媒体称为AP王的人士包括已故丹斯里纳西姆汀、拿督赛阿兹曼、拿督莫哈末哈聂夫和拿督阿祖丁，他们所拥有的AP超过2万8千张。假设每张AP至少2万令吉，单在2005年所有AP总值13亿令吉。这只是一年的保守估计，不要忘记，AP制度早在70年代就设立，1997年后更活跃。AP顶多只是花了政府的行政费和印刷费，不过AP拥有者每年却可能捞取了13亿令吉，更令人难过的是，购买整装进口车的人们都是AP拥有者的“顾客”。
2005年，在连锁经销商的极力争取下，贸工部直接发出连锁AP给连锁经销商。目前大多数连锁AP拥有者都是连锁经销商，不过因为程序不透明，所以会有例外。我相信，雪隆汽车经销商及贷款公司协会呼吁政府开放所有AP或保留30%给土著，以及公开拍卖开放AP的原因就在这里。
2008年11月，贸工部副部长在国会下议院回答议员提问时指出，该部发出的AP逐年减少，即2005年7万零381张、2006年6万零460张、2007年5万零304张及2008年4万4千168张。AP减少的原因有许多，不完全是因为贸工部严格控制。举个例子，AP减少可能是因为经销商改在本地装配汽车，而不是整装进口，所以不需要AP。其他原因可能是2008年油价调高，多用途汽车、四轮驱动车和大排气量的汽车销量放缓而致。如果政府详细说明AP类型，我们也可以看到更多详情。
假设2008年的开放AP和2005年连锁AP的数目相同，2008年的开放AP大概有1万1千400张，以一张开放AP有2万令吉计算，贸工部发出的开放AP价值2亿2千800万令吉。
有鉴于此，我希望贸工部落实雪隆汽车经销商及贷款公司协会的建议，让AP发放制度更透明，并增加政府的收入。开放AP可以避免小撮人控制价格，从中让消费人受惠，而且公开拍卖AP也可以让汽车经销商有公平竞争。这也可以避免没有任何AP的汽车零售商向AP拥有者买AP的情况出现。
通过拍卖AP， AP的遴选及控制程序的复杂性可以减到最低。30%保留给土著的AP应该分发给真正的汽车经销商，而不是用来交易。我相信这将达到政府提高土著经济地位的目标。根据报道，由于AP由小撮土著控制，因此达不到其原本目标。
因为AP的发放程序不透明，因此如果问题不解决，就是一个定时炸弹。拥有财力及技术能力的非土著汽车业者，如果必须依赖他人获得AP，他们的不满情绪会持续高涨。同样的，如果AP只是小撮人控制或政治化，土著也会有所不满。如果情况不改变，那小撮人将继续掠夺原本属于人民的财富。
要开放市场的话，取消AP制度是最好的方法，不过当局必须先探讨取消AP对装配商及国家汽车工业的影响。保护主义虽不健康，不过并不是对所有事物都有害，就好像美国农业获得许多津贴，钢铁工业也获得重度保护一样。
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