Ministers Now Use Vellfire As Official Cars Najib Says Don T Blame Him

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Since April this year, federal ministers have switched to using Toyota Vellfire as their official vehicles, with a monthly cost of RM5,759.35, revealed Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz.
The government has paid a total of RM1.42 million to the concessionaire as of September 2021, he added.
“The government started the process of replacing the official vehicles for federal ministers from the Proton Perdana 2.4L model to the Toyota Vellfire 2.5L model starting April 2021.
“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 for the monthly rental costs and RM907.74 for the maintenance costs,” Zafrul said in a written parliamentary reply dated Nov 2 to Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin who had asked for the costs of leasing the Toyota Vellfire as the federal ministers' official car.
Previously, in December 2019, the Pakatan Harapan administration had considered switching the official vehicles for federal ministers from Proton Perdana to Toyota Vellfire.
They later decided against it after the company appointed to supply vehicles for the official use of ministers and senior government officials confirmed that there was sufficient supply of the Perdana.
At the time, former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak had taken a jab at Harapan for changing their minds after public backlash.
“Before being criticised, there was no more stock of Proton Perdana because it is no longer in the market. That is why Harapan had to choose Toyota Vellfire. Eh… isn’t there a Proton X70?
“After being criticised, the Harapan government is maintaining the Proton Perdana as the official car even though it is no longer in the market,” he had said on social media.
“There is no need to twist things. It is a simple issue. Use the national flying car if Proton Perdana is no longer being produced. Support the national flying car,” Najib added sarcastically.

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak
The ‘flying car’ project refers to an initiative introduced by then entrepreneur development minister Redzuan Yusof which had received public ridicule at the time.
After the revelation that the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government had made the switch to the Toyota Vellfire cars, Najib once again took to social media after being called out by a netizen.
The netizen pointed out that Najib had criticised Harapan previously for wanting to change the ministers’ official cars to the Toyota Vellfire.
The person then sarcastically asked if the former prime minister would like to complain about this issue as well.
In response, Najib said today that none of the decisions related to changing the official vehicles to Toyota Vellfire had anything to do with him.
“Why blame me? The one who suggested Vellfire for ministers in January 2020 was the seventh prime minister’s administration (Harapan).
“The one who finally changed to Vellfire in April 2021 during the emergency and when there was no Parliament was the eighth prime minister’s administration (PN).
“So, if you want to ask, ask your ‘atok’ (grandfather) and your ‘abah’ (father),” the Pekan MP said.
Towards the beginning of Muhyiddin Yassin’s tenure as the eighth prime minister, netizens had given him the nickname of ‘Abah’ as he cultivated a father figure persona in public.
‘Atok’ is most likely a reference to 96-year-old Dr Mahathir Mohamad who had served as the seventh prime minister in the Harapan administration.
Najib had also pointed out that back in April, Muhyiddin had reportedly said the government did not have much money left after allocating RM600 billion for Budget 2021 and several stimulus packages.


More questions arise

In a separate statement today, PKR Youth said the calculations regarding the costs of leasing the Toyota Vellfire cars have only raised more questions, as it seems there are more Vellfires than there are ministers in the cabinet.
“If you calculate the costs, it involves 41 Vellfire cars but it is widely known that the Malaysian cabinet only has 32 ministers.
“So, who is using the remaining nine Vellfire cars? Are the ministerial-level special envoys also enjoying the same facilities?” asked PKR Youth secretary Syukri Razab.
The Budget 2022, which had been touted as a rakyat-friendly budget, is filled with handouts and direct aids targeted at the general populace, he said.
However, with the revelation about the Vellfire, it is clear that those “small” handouts were only meant to distract from the luxuries the federal ministers get to enjoy, Syukri added.
The people are struggling financially right now in the midst of the economic downturn due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.
Many have lost their jobs and their businesses to the point that some are driven to suicide, he said, but the government - “without shame and guilt” - has upgraded the ministers’ official cars to Toyota Vellfire.
Syukri reminded that the government’s debt had already reached RM1.35 trillion.
The government had also recently raised its debt ceiling to 65 percent of the nation’s GDP, about a year after they first raised it to 60 percent. - Mkini

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