Mek taktau la demografi pembaca blog mek ni mcmana, tp mek rasa visitor2 yg ke sini adalah dari golongan pondan atau gayboy. Pompuan betul ataupun lelaki tulen, kalu ada pun tak ramai kot.

Sbg pondan, mek rasa ramai antara kita yg dah lali dgn ejekan org, betul tak? Yelah, dah nama pun pondan kan. Sasah la pegi memana pun asik2 kena gelak, kena hina, kena ejek. Biasa la. Tp kekadang tu mek jadi pelik juga. Nak kata jadi pondan ni something yg tak betul, maybe la. Tp byk benda lain pun yg tak betul juga. Laaagi tak betul dari pondan. Habistu knp cuma pondan je yg jadi bahan ejekan, kena hina, kena kutuk. Siap kena sepak terajang pun ada juga.

Kenapa mat rempit tak kena hina? Kenapa penagih dadah tak kena ejek? Kenapa bohsis2 tu tak kena sepak terajang? Pelik kan...

Yg lagi peliknya, golongan yg menghina pondan ni biasanya set2 low educated, sometimes NOT-educated. Dicarutnya pondan yg belajar tinggi, ada degree masters PhD segala. Cuma sbb org tu pondan, habis jadi bahan ketawa. Tapi bila ada lelaki tulen yg belajar tinggi, suddenly set2 takde pendidikan ni kuar statement "weih dia tu belajar tinggi tu, bagus dia tu." Reti pulak ko nak hormat org yg ada pelajaran. Tapi pondan yg berpelajaran tinggi ko hina! Ish gila la...

Ada plak tu yg set2 kerja cleaner, drebar lori, jual jagung! Matilah kat Gurun byk gerai jagung noh? Dicarutnya pondan yg kerja professional, berpangkat segala. Bila ada pompuan betul yg berjawatan tinggi, truslah ayat2 mengagungkan diorang "Dia tu hg jgn tgk mcmtu. Manager tuuuu" Habistu kalu ada pondan yg jawatan tinggi, ko ketawakan. Knp akal ko mcmtu?

Ada yg set2 gaji sedih. Makan KFC sebulan sekali je, itupun bila time gaji! Pilu... Tapi dicarutnya pondan yg gaji 5 angka, mampu makan Secret Recipe hari2. Ops Secret Recipe ada logo halal tak? Haha... Bila dia tgk pondan pakai kete besar, duit byk, tetaplah dia gelakkan. Pelik mek...

Chop, pembetulan sket. Bila dia tgk pondan pakai keter besar, duit byk, dia gelakkan blkg2 je. Tp dpn2 dia buat baik... pose2 KB sbb nak kikis duit sang pondan ittiew. Itu lagi keji haha...

Mek sendiri dah laaaama sgt berdepan dgn set2 mcmni. Most of the time mek diam je. Kdg2 bila set2 rempit gigi rongak bau hamis gelakkan kat mek, mek gelak je balik kat diorang. Seriously, who should be laughing at who? Tapi yelah, kalau dah tahap mentaliti yg "barely human" tu, mmg susah nak kata apa la. Tu mek ketawa je... Terus terang, mek jijik dgn set2 macamtu. Biarlah aku ni pondan, asalkan aku ada pendidikan, aku ada kerjaya yg nak kata ok la not too bad, dan hidup aku takdelah tak tentu hala mcm diorang tu. Eee selisih malaikat...

Lagi satu yg mek nak tergelak. Org2 kita ni dok sibuk kata konon masyarakat Malaysia ni jenis yg berbudi bahasa la, sopan santun la. Mek taktau la sama ada statement tu semata2 utk sedapkan hati, atau statement tu dikeluarkan oleh org2 yg tak penah tgk dunia luar. Bagi mek la, as far as perception & attitute towards pondan is concerned, masyarakat kita ni antara yg paling biadap & kurang ajar.

Ada sekali tu mek pegi Bangkok, dok kalut2 jln kat pasar mlm dia tu mek hampir terlanggar ada sorang budak kecik dlm 5-6 thn. Budak tu dgn mak dia. Dia trus ckp "Ouiiii... twoot" (twoot tu maksudnya pondan la tp dia dikira bahasa yg kasar la, mcm org kat sini ckp OI BAPOK gitu). Trus mak budak tu lempang muka anak dia & apologize dgn mek. Sedangkan depa tu set2 "ordinary" je. Bknlah jenis yg educated, well-mannered bagai pun.

Cuba bandingkan situasi yg sama kat sini. Jgnkan anak, sesilap mak bapak dia yg melebih2 nak gelakkan pondan, nak menghina pondan ittiew. Mek rasa lebih dari 90% pondan kat Mesia ni dah penah dicarut secara berjemaah oleh couple laki bini. Yg lebih hebat, jemaah ittiew dikuatkan lagi dengan barisan anak2 sebagai penyanyi latar haha... Contoh teladan apa yg ibubapa Malaysia bagi kat anak2 diorang ek? Hebat betul org kita ajar anak kan...

Kat Indon pun sama mcm kat Thailand. Kat Jkt, Bandung, Bali & tmpat2 lain kat sana setakat yg mek pegi ni, takde lagi la kena mcm kat Mesia. Org sana hormat kat kita tak kira kita ni laki ke pompuan ke, pondan pun diorang hormat. Tp knp masyarakat kita sendiri yg kononnya berbudi bahasa sopan santun kepala bapak segala tu, bila jumpa pondan, perangai tiba2 jadi "borderline civilized". Or shall I say totally uncivilized.

Mek taktau la sbnrnya nak ckp mcmana psl persepsi & attitude org kita terhadap kaum pondan ni. Ada yg carut terang2an. Ada yg tak suka tp simpan dlm hati aje. Ada yg buat baik semata2 nak mengambik kesempatan. Kami sebagai pondan, the only thing we ask is for you to leave us alone. Kalu hgpa taknak kawan dgn kami pun takpa, kami tak mampuih aihh. Tp toksah la dok hina kutuk cerca segala, padahal hgpa tu lagi jijik dari kami. Tak sedaq diri...

Yg sedih tu mek penah tgk, dlm ceramah agama sekali pun bila sang ustaz ckp je psl kaum pondan, truslah buat gaya & suara2 tak perlu. Ustaz tau, bkn org biasa. Saja nak riuhkan majlis. Tapi knp bila sang ustaz ckp psl mat rempit, penagih dadah & bohsis, tak pulak dia buat gaya2 yg memualkan ittiew? Bagi laaa rancak sket org bertepuk ketawa dlm masjid tu. Isn't that the whole point? To make fun of those group? No? Hmm...

Tapi itulah, bila mai tang pondan, semua jadi bahan ketawa, cacian & hinaan. Mai tang org lain, wpon lagi teruk & menjijikkan, semua pakat diam... yelah, masyarakat kita kan bersopan santun, sabit tu depa sengap.

After a slew of disappointments & disaster models, Proton vowed to make a comeback. In that high spirit, they launched a new model in early 2008, aptly named the Saga.

With the tagline "A new Saga begins", a competitive pricing and a few adverts that scream nationalism, Proton claims their new baby is "kereta untuk rakyat." Meaning, something that can be afforded by low-to-middle income earners. Noble indeed...

The rakyat, meanwhile, waited with bated breath for this new model. They waited. It came out. Good pricing. The rakyat bought it. They go home happy... You'd thought that, right?

Wrong!! The only party who goes home happy is Proton. The so called "kereta untuk rakyat" is actually "kereta untuk Proton". Oh they need to come up with a "sellable" model quickly, or they were going to gulung tikar faster than you can say whoops. Desperation can sometimes bring out the best in people. It certainly brought out the opposite in Proton. Tsk tsk...

I was one of the "lucky" rakyats who happened to be looking for a car around the time of Saga's launch. With a tight budget (this was supposed to be my 2nd car) and the frustration of dealing with second-hand car dealers and its aftermath, I thought why not? After all, the price was within my range. And I'll get a new car. Yayy... right?

Well, kinda. The "right" part would be that I actually DID buy a Saga. The "wrong" part is the yayy. Come to think of it, "kereta untuk rakyat" would best be replaced with "kereta untuk MENIPU rakyat". Why? Here lemme give you my insights.

1. DESIGN - I really dont have much to complain here. I know proton benchmarked against much better cars for this model. After all, thats what benchmarking is all about. Proton's designer team might have put alot of creative inputs for this model. And honestly, I don't really question their other designs as well. I would if I had driven any of it, but thats not the point. I'd really say now that i HAVE driven one of its models, its not the design part that bugs me.

2. PERFORMANCE - Welcome to my first gripe. As I was driving the car home from the dealer, the suspension felt cheap & handling/stability is a pain. As soon as you hit the 100kmh mark, the car sways more than it should so you gotta get a grip of the steering wheel. Same is during cornering. I also realized the engine struggled to give me the output & torque that it should (hell, it even SOUNDED like it was struggling!). Acceleration from 0 to 100 seemed like an eternity. And when it DID reach that speed, the engine behaved like it was going to either explode or detach from the mounting, so as to release itself from the suffocation. This car has got no freaking pickup... at all!! Its like asking a fat uncle to sprint 100m. You have to wait while he takes his time accumulating speed & watch him painfully making it to the finishing line, then stand close enough to hear him breathing for life. This is a car thats best for your "Sunday leisure" drives, and don't even think of overtaking. But at that point i told myself its ok, its still new. Lets wait until it passes its engine breaking-in point & maybe it'll start to perform. Honestly, after about a year, I'm still waiting for that miracle. One can say its my fault for not test-driving it first, but get this. At that time, the test drive units were all manual, and I can't drive stick. I had no choice but to trust what I read on various websites & publications.

3. COMPONENTS & BUILD QUALITY - Proton needs to make a car cheap enough that everyone can afford it. Ok, we totally get that. And we also get it if they used cheap components to assemble its kereta rakyat. But to use something beyond cheap is just proposterous. The components are mostly crap. We'll just call it crap-ponents from not on. Just one day after getting my NEW car, the central locking started to fail. Then the rear window drops about an inch everytime you wind it all the way up (oh yeah, and thats manual winding too. Never knew it could happen with manual winding). When the multifunction switch (the "turn signal" lever") failed to respond, I blew my top. This is a safety item, dammit! How can you make a car that doesn't blink when you turn left/right? This car was gonna force me to make rounds between my house & the service center. I bet Proton service center's profit shoot up an all-time high with this new model. Kereta untuk rakyat? Told you this is kereta untuk Proton... To this date, more and more crap-ponents are failing. Latest addition to the list is the front passenger window - totally for display only. Unable to wind down. I'm just lucky the thing failed when the window is actually UP. Imagine if it happened when the window was down. The thought of that, and driving in rainy days, scares me.

4. SERVICE - There were 7 problems that I had by the time of my first free service (oh yeah I'll get to the "free" part later). I took my car to the service center & they claimed to have fixed the problems. Truth is, they didnt even touch the central locking; its still as dead as it was the 2nd day. My turn signals still occasionally wouldn't respond. And some of the smaller problems were repaired. And the "free" service cost me RM220.00... how kereta rakyat. Oh I'm sure the low-to-middle income earners would never have a problem forking RM200++ out of their salaries every now & then to take care of their precious cars.

5. FUEL CONSUMPTION - This is the best part, thats why I'm saving it for last. Kereta untuk rakyat, that was supposed to be for low-to-middle income earners, seems so incredibly thirsty. Thanks to its Campro engine, this 1.3L kereta rakyat gallops RM100 worth of gas on a 420-km travel from Sungai Petani to Kajang (with constant speed 100 ~ 120 kmh). All other factors remain, it would cost me RM65 on my 1.5L other car (which by the way, never intends to be a kereta rakyat). That's almost 55% more fuel consumption, for a lower capacity engine. And you know the funnier part? You're paying extra for gas, but not for performance! Now, why did I mention Campro? My sister owns a Gen-2 (Campro), it drinks a RM20 gas to make a return trip Kajang-KL, and has the same melodramatic performance/pickup. So my conclusion - Campro engines have no power, no torque (pickup), and consume alot of gas. What can low-to-middle income earners benefit from this kind of engine mounted to their kereta rakyat?

6. RESALE VALUE - A good kereta rakyat would mean its good to own, good to drive, and when you're getting rid of it, its good value. One of my relatives who also bought it & had enough of the slow-mo pickup & lousy crap-ponents, decided to sell off his 5-months-old Saga. And boy, did it invoke a saga on its own! Enough for me to say his car is still neatly parked inside his porch. No individual nor second hand car dealers would take the car, even though he's selling it off at very low price (and has to face the burden of loan repayment).

7. PRICE - At sub-40k price tag, the car seems affordable & tempting to own. But considering facts 1 ~ 6 above, do you really wanna go through all those troubles? And besides, its not like 40k IS the cheapest price in town anyway. There are many other cars that can be bought at lower prices. You just have to compromise size & engine capacity for price, and which one to choose is everyone's prerogative. I personally kick at myself in the butt for not buying a Perodua. I know for a fact that they make good cars, far better than Proton. But my concern was size, and compact hatchbacks just wouldn't fit the purpose of me buying a 2nd car. Thats what keeping me from kicking at myself.

There you go, the ugly experiences I've had with a kereta rakyat. Though I've heard alot of complaints about previous Proton models, I tried my best not to have a negative mindset when I bought my Saga. I'm no Karam Singh Walia, but I guess this is a true example of MELEPASKAN ANJING YANG TERSEPIT. We're trying to buy local cars & help them go on another day in business. But while they're laughing all the way to the bank, we're doomed with under-powered cars that has a build quality that rivals only kereta potong, with expensive services & spare parts, and most sadly with high fuel consumption.

So for those of you who are considering this "kereta untuk menipu rakyat", pls wake up. You can buy mine for all I care... Heck, you'd be better off cycling, I tell you.