rambro
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There was a time when Malaysia was truly High flying.....There was the Petronas Towers, the Sepang Race Track, Petronas puring 30-50 million dollars a year in F1 sponsorship, Petronas even pouring money for a three cylinder MotoGP project which later became the Foggy FP1 superbike, Proton sponsoring Kenny Robert's V5 MotoGP development, Proton buying Lotus sports cars, Proton buying MV Agusta superbike company, Proton having a world class rally team
It seemed Malaysia could do no wrong
Then sadly it all fizzled out
This year Malaysia hosted its last ever F1 race at the Sepang track, bringing curtains to an amazing 20 year growth story of a country
Incidentally Sepang was the first of the new mega budget architecturally stunning modern F1 tracks in traditionally non-motorsport countries.....
It seems growth of China took away the Malaysian growth story
1998-2017 was a terrific time for Malaysia
I blame my ruling politicians they are too trivial providing lip service to gain popularity and votes creating internal discord with no sense of direction and aim. Corruption, cronyism, kleptocracy being the latest bane.
Proton as the national car manufacturer for the past 20+ years still requires government bailouts by the billions each time. Failed to breach international market whereas Kia and Hyundai took off wonderfully.
In general, it is the mentality of the people. The good times are around late 90s to early 20s, things are at a snail'space now.
Race tracks are not a necessity, there are better areas to blow money on.
We are in no position to sponsor anyone, not that rich. Proton acquiring MV Agusta + Lotus is a white elephant project with minimal ROI.
China didn't take away anything, they just have efficient leadership + direction. Well at their pace and magnitude for sure the world would take notice.
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