Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Proton's woes continue

Updates, 6pm 21 Nov
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 (Bernama) -- Share prices of Proton Holdings hit a seven-year low at RM4.06 Wednesday since 2000 following the government's announcement yesterday that the national carmaker will operate on its own, without a foreign partner.
At 4 pm, Proton declined 17.81 percent or 88 sen to RM4.06 after opening 24 sen lower at RM4.70 from yesterday's closing of RM4.94. Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop yesterday said the turnaround seen at Proton in recent months was real and therefore, earlier assumptions that Proton needed a foreign partner to stay afloat were no longer applicable.

Original posting
So after all this while, we've decided to ditch VW and GM because (according to Khazanah), Proton's sales and exports have improved.

Hard to believe.

Harder to believe is some people's theory that VW and GM were not convinced about Proton's "Islamic car" plans, which would involve partners in Iran and Turkey. Read here.

What is a halal car, anyway?

36 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:20 pm

    Apparently, it is the Second Finance Minister who made this decision. It looks suspiciously like yet another policy flip-flop from the govt?

    Will public funds in the form of a "soft loan" be used to support Proton, say for developing new models?

    Or did domestic vested interests lobby the govt against selecting Volkswagen as a partner for Proton?

    Proton is a juicy takeover target. It's sitting on cash, has valuable real estate and a big assembly plant that is not being fully utilised. And if the govt, thru Khazanah is willing to write off Proton's debts, or pay off it's creditors, then a clean, debt-free Proton will be up for grabs.

    All this in the "national interest", mind you!

    Foreign investors must be wondering just what the heck is going on in Malaysia.

    And with Asean leaders adopting the Asean Economic Community Blueprint which envisages a single market for goods and services across Asean by 2015, the clock is ticking for Proton.

    If Volkswagen chooses to set up an assembly plant in Thailand or Indonesia, and transfer significant technology to it's partner, Proton will be in for a very bumpy ride. With no tariff protection against competition from cars assembled in Thailand, Indonesia or the Philippines.

    Of course, such cock-eyed economic logic is par for the course as far the govt is concerned!

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  2. Anonymous1:27 pm

    By selling off Proton, which is an iconic national asset, this serves to confirm the nation's failure and therefore its a slap in the face of the leaders. With election looming, God will forbid such sale.

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  3. Anonymous2:06 pm

    Proton must think they are great?
    Wait until you guys drive 1 and see how long it last?

    :)

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  4. Somehow i don't think the reason given is legitimate enough to call off the negotiation.

    However, this prove that we Malaysian can do it and hence we should also consider the proposal by our local companies in partnering with Proton. (NAZA, DRB_Hicom, etc). And we don't need foreigner to help us to boost our export and domestic sales.

    So, the retoric in rejecting our local companies proposal before is not actually valid, huh bro!

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  5. Islamic car? hmmmmmmmmmmm i am confused.

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  6. Anonymous2:59 pm

    OMG! Halal car? What have become of Proton???

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  7. Anonymous3:00 pm

    Halal car? Adui! What have become of Proton now? No more idea ker??

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  8. Anonymous3:21 pm

    I really don't get it.....does having an additional compass that points to Mekkah and extra glove compartment to keep your Quran make a car "Halal"? And not forgetting, getting a pretty sexy lady dressed in tudung to pose next to the car, to make it more "halal" than others?
    Are these people so out of ideas that they come up with stuff like that?! That further embarrasses us tax payers?!

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  9. Anonymous3:29 pm

    An Islamic car? Hmmm i) on the dashboard, there's a new needle that lights up whenever the car is facing the Kiblat? ii)it has an automatic prayer time setting and the Azan comes on the hifi set during the exact prayer times iii) the exhaust pipe has no foreskin (kena sunat) iv) every Friday, the car will take the driver to the nearest mosque for prayers v) all labels are in Arabic vi) it locks itself if any infidel tries to drive it vi) only runs on halal petrol - any alcoholic content will make the car break down vii) depends on if the car is a sunni or shiah - some more details vary viii) it blows itself up near Americans and Jews ix) the road tax payable includes fitrah for the year and lastly x) if its islam hadhari - the car gets very confused.

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  10. Anonymous4:24 pm

    The strategic partner will benefit Proton in the long term basis. Not only Proton car can be marketed internationally under VW, but will also benefited to the Proton employee,the company & our nation. Actually, everything has been prepared for VM due diligence team which was scheduled to come this week, but all the harwork seems to be useless as the agreement was called off.

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  11. these arseholes are great at sectarianism.keep it up then and may the race and religion take flight.............sad tale of humanity

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  12. Anonymous4:27 pm

    I lol'd at the jokes on the fark link....
    Its name: JI Extreme.
    The Jewish car: It automatically stops on the Sabbath.
    The Xtian car: It stops once a year and three days later it rises.

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  13. Anonymous4:30 pm

    Car manufacturing idea scenery is to have optimum economic of scale in the chain of production and distribution. This will enable an optimum cost to compete with the non 'halal car'.

    Someone out there is day dreaming turning the national pride (if there is any still) into national disaster.

    I am glad I sold all my shares in Proton to cut my losses.

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  14. Such marketing strategies would only result in further mockery of Proton. I have never heard of such segmentations for car markets.

    The worst part, they had indirectly create a mockery of the religion, is Proton desparately in need of sales to the extent that they have resort using religion as a competitive advantage? I mean, can you imagine the number of jokes people are cracking over this?

    A car is a car, and should be categorised only as Family, Sports, Utility, Luxury among others. In terms of putting in a qiblat compass, special compartments for the Holy Quran, thats called 'customisation', to suit a particular demand/markets.

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  15. Anonymous5:12 pm

    this one almost beat zam's shameful tirade against one foreign news agency, and also that of i-know-the-PRU-date by the SPR chief in my this month's blunder collection of malaysia (by groups or individual)

    almost.

    of course we dont need the owner step sister of that famous Porsche. and also that we dont care whether they got Audi/ Lambo/ etc etc under their stable. we dont need those extra hype and technology might that they possessed. we dont need them at all.

    instead we want to invest in such Halal car or Islamic Car. thats better.

    maybe that Sat-Nav only point straight to Mecca. if there is any sat-nav at all. or that like American bling sound when you open the door, we might have sound of something Islamic when the car knows we open the door.

    and the colour - this is the most important aspect of all - should be GREEN. because Islamic is always pictured in green.

    how? still can aaa?

    ps- of course Zam's shame tirade cannot be beaten by some other ordinary blunders. Badruddin of Jerai tried with his TEROWONG GELAP. but naaahhhh...seeing a minister opening his mouth of sxxt in front of the world is the best for me. so far.

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  16. Anonymous5:23 pm

    halal car?

    then what 'bout those guys ruining... running proton?

    ade hal.. ke?

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  17. Anonymous5:24 pm

    I think they realized they'd have to take proton off the 100RM bill if it was owned by VW..

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  18. Anonymous5:34 pm

    Ego, ego, ego-when they failed-tax payers bare it!

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  19. Anonymous6:24 pm

    Anything to sabotage the joint venture. Wonder why !!

    Well , maybe a local automobile company will 'help' Proton.

    Another Augusta type of sale perhaps??

    Only this time its Proton that up for grabs !!

    The mind bonggles !

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  20. Anonymous7:08 pm

    if Proton tak buleh, can the IDR buleh? Same people, or is there goin to be a policy flip flop. What Proton needs now is an Islamic car, via co-operation with Iran, which co-incidently if you read the latest interview with the Saudi oil minister in Time magazine, the Saudis are not very pleased with the Iranians. Can we work with the right people such as the Saudi's or are we goin alternative...can we have the La Bam Ba car, via co-operation with Venzuela... Proton's only hope is to strike the US$200 million lotto in the United States of Americaaaaa.....

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  21. Anonymous7:53 pm

    VW just wait for the best bargain price to fall. Goh save Proton

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  22. Anonymous7:59 pm

    Drive a halal car,it will drive you straight to heaven

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  23. Anonymous8:03 pm

    Naz(AP)..aiseh..not that im against malaysian comp..but..ish..not sure how to put it in words..
    The thing is..we have 1 of the best comp to develop a car with..Lotus.. most of us never had a chance to drv 1..but if u do trust me... your ba**s will be hanging on your throat.. superb car.. proton shud sent their R&D,QA,etc to learn from them intensively.
    lotus's suspension system is one of the best.
    This is what i call berlagak x sudah2.. dah teruk baru nak menyesal..baru buat sales sket dah mula sombong.. lan***

    Halal car is a car that comes with a Jakim Halal logo instead Lulus on most proton cars..

    to anonymous 2:06 PM..i own a 14 yr old Putra. still ok..so far can go side by side with a bmw 318..and i own a lotus..yes my ba**s was at my throat the 1st time.

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  24. Kereta Halal tu bermakna dia suci kerana ...

    ... telah di sembelih di bahagian spotlight untuk halal di makan

    atau

    ... telah di guna lumpur untuk polish menyerupai samak)

    atau

    ... hanya menggunakan minyak yang tak dibeli dari duit riba sahaja dan mungkin dinaik taraf untuk tidak menerima minyak yg dibeli dari wang kertas

    atau

    ... hanya Bank Islam, Muaamalat, dll lain tanpa riba Bank saja boleh biayai pembelian kereta2 ini.

    atau

    ... telah di ubah bunyi hon untuk mengucap dua kalimah syahadat

    atau

    ... telah di Islam Hadharikan ... apa dia kawan tak faham.

    atau

    ... telah akan di "Scomi" kan ... pun kawan tak faham tetapi apa2 yang berkena dengan Pak Lah perlu dipercayai kerana dia cucu ulamak dan ikhlas

    atau

    ... telah di buat doa kesyukuran dan dilaporkan kedatangan oleh NST sebanyak 50,000 orang (padahal ada 5 orng sahaja)

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  25. Anonymous8:46 am

    1) pray 5 times after getting delivery of the car

    2) wear a white skull-cap when you take delivery of it

    3) don't consume pork or drink liquor when you are the ownner of one

    4) buy all 4 models

    5) never offer a bribe when you are stop by a traffic policeman. Just sodomise him in the back seat.

    THAT'S A HALAL CAR !!!

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  26. Anonymous9:22 am

    I think the nation is better off without proton...Probably we will benefit more as a consumer from the free market competiton among car manufacturers..
    And not forced to be left with the option to buy a junk due to govt imposed tax scheme on others brand to pampered their spoilt brats for more than two decades!

    Proton is a spoilt brats, too much pampered by its daddy the govt at the stake and misery of the malaysian citizen!

    Over price tagged for a piece of junk that only last you less then a year without any technical problems (or even less than that !!)... They even created cast in their production line for the same product..the high quality one for export and the pariah one for the domestic use by Malaysian..

    Why on earth and hell should Malaysian support Proton, tell me?

    Well I think God already punish them quite some time with all the screwed up that they have turned into... (go ask the Proton showroom salesmen, how many proton they managed to sell per month..and go ask the Perodua, Honda, Nissan & Toyota showroom also..)

    Perodua is the less favourite child like 'anak tiri' to the govt..but they learned fast despite of the 2nd class treatment compared to their brother Proton, thought together blood-born in Malaysia, Perodua survived and doing pretty well..see how far they come today with co-operation with Daihatsu that has Toyota as their big brother, not to mention Lexus & Hino in the family!

    Proton management! Don't mock the religion lah you f@%king oxymoron..now only talk halal..what halal? What you think we don't know whom the people you been feeding all this while since Tengku Mahalel the former CEO time?

    After some time they've been playing Bethoven & Mozart tune and suddenly out of a blue moon decided to menari joget & zapin! Hahaha.. what a spin..deep sh!t!

    p/s: I do prefer my Honda City 26.2km/L car compared to that fuel guzzling 8.5km/L Waja! Althought you pay more to the bank around two hundred, it saves you more on the operational & maintenance side..For those who still fail to see better go for course on 'Life Cycle Cost (LCC)'. The maths component are:
    Asset Cost (monthly payment)+ Operational cost (Fuel & maintenance) + Disposal (2nd hand value)..
    NOT just the payment to the bank alone moron..! Try add its up and see which one give you less! Bear in mind of RM2.50/litre petrol next year! Who needs a proton anyway..!

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  27. A Halal car is one that will slaughter you according to Islamic rites on our roads....

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  28. Anonymous2:39 pm

    anonymouse

    Thats short sighted thinking. No vision and self confidence of conquered mind (minda yang dijajah).

    Or it could be typical pemalas thinking yang pemalas dan nak kerja senang.

    And it could mean a person with no patriotism and pride for his/her nation.

    Kalau orng boleh buat, kenapa kita tidak boleh dibuat?

    Kalau tak dipecahkan ruyung, manakan dapat sagunya.

    Kalau susah sedikit, dah nak mengaku kalah. Cis bacul pengecut!!!

    Kita tidak akan dapat teknologi, kepakaran, ilmu, kemahiran, dan kekayaan dengan hanya mengharapkan pasaran dunia dan persiangan akan memberikan kepada kita.

    Kejayaan bukan ikut Darwin tetapi ikut usaha, semangat yang gigih dan kebijaksanaan.

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  29. Anonymous3:40 pm

    After so many decades of going into partnership with so many people from so many different countries, Proton is still stuck in first gear. I think by the time they get to fourth gear, the motor-car industry of the world would have become obsolete.

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  30. Anonymous10:16 pm

    the deal didn't go through probably because the land Proton is sitting on in Shah Alam is so valuable that there are vultures circling to get their claws on it.

    Khazanah will sell down.... I mean Azman Mok needs to show his portfolio investments is growing and Proton is a drag on his KPI"s.

    So sell to local consortium who buy it for a song. Shift everything to Tanjung Malim as part of (North Selangor, South Perak) NSSP Growth Corridor.

    Strip out Shah Alam land and then sell down Tanjung Malim to Partner.

    MindaCergas

    http://mindacergas.wordpress.com/2007/11/21/proton-oh-proton/

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  31. Anonymous10:21 am

    Hidup Malaysia!

    Teruskan bermimpi & berangan bersama-sama regime Pak Lah.

    Ternyata anda bukan hidup di dunia nyata..

    yes..of course! dig the @rss of the every words excrete by the supreme leaders..Malaysia Boleh!

    Teruskan menjadi balaci berjuang dgn keris 12 inci melawan asakan peluru berpandu..pecahkanlah ruyung dengan keris untuk mendapat sagu dihutan sedangkan org seperti saya rasa lebih selesa membeli sagu di kedai dengan menghargai duit titik peluh sendiri..org dah pakai mesin lah zaman ini utk dapatkan sagu..

    maybe we could built a rocket to space (Yuri Gagarin done that!) as well, right? and go to the moon! (Neil Armstrong done that already!).. go to everest(Edmund Hilary done that also).. north pole (a lot of people have done that since 1900s)..or where ever..

    just licking other people leftover trails and monkey jumping like its your on top of the world very own pride..How significantly impact does that bring other than trashing the hard earned tax payer money down to the drain? Tell me..

    Karl Benz, Sichiro Honda, VW, AutoBavaria, even Perodua or whoever the other competitors are..they do have one thing in common.. They do not stay under the armpit of the goverment over-protection to compete in real market...that's the real deal, bro.

    What make you think Proton have the real quality to compete in the real market without resorting to Khazanah (the blood money of the rakyat) or govt twisted automotive tax scheme?

    Tell me any Proton model that worth to be a bestseller in terms of feature & quality other than just tagging down the price at the stake of tax payer or stupid buyer who pay more? Tell me..

    Well it does not suprise me at all if people like you think the Malaysia Boleh spirit is an amulet that can yield magic..

    Bro, be sensible and rational..think practical.. don't tell me you benefit more with proton unless you are the people behind that curtain squirming like maggots eating disintigrated flesh.

    Teknologi & kepakaran? Belajarlah teknologi aeroangkasa..pada ketika kita sudah pandai membina teknologi 'karburator' dunia sudahpun menggunakan teknologi 'fuel injection' & 'hybrid' .. cubalah bersaing!

    The fact is bro, if you follow someone.. you can never ever be ahead of the people you follow...unless you come up with something genuine of your own! Not just bragging with something you acquired from others & claiming it as your own!

    Bro, I'm not 'pengecut' of 'bacul', just being practical in that sense and wise enough not to insult my own intelligence in making a choice when choices are available (smart consumer!).. Bro, Proton ada kasi monthly allowance ke bulan2 bayar duit kereta atau vaucher petrol? Jadi kalau rasa sgt bahagia dgn Proton jgnlah komplen tau bila minyak naik harga nanti OK! Anda banyak duit dan tak kisah berkorban demi Proton & rejim Pak Lah..jadi tak kisah lah kan..

    Jenis yang melalak kutuk maki belakang lepas diri sendiri menyesal beli setelah terkena & terhimpit tekanan ekonomi akibat penggunaan petrol..inilah baru pengecut, bodoh & bacul sebenar, bro..

    aku dulu pakai Kancil lah bro sebelum tukar City iDSI lepas habis bayar, Kancil aku tu boleh gak tolak dapat RM15,000 (sikit je susutnilai dari harga beli RM 28k), daripada besi buruk Iswara atau kereta kebal Proton tu..nak tolak pun tak laku..hahaha..
    Minyak City iDSI guna lebih kurang kancil jugak tapi aku dapat better space and performance..a good deal..itu realiti, Bro! Mathematically prove me wrong plz!

    If you want to stay in a sinking boat..well best luck to you.. but just bear in mind bro, someone is laughing loud back there to typical people like you..that's why the clowns can still rule Malaysia....

    P/S: "Campro" only spelled as "CanThrow" to me ...hahaha...

    Calculate this Bro (if you can count):

    Nett Ownership Cost = Asset Cost (Harga Kereta) + Operational Cost (Petrol & Maintenance) - Disposal (Harga trade in 2nd hand)..

    Which one give the less nett figure..? The operational cost is the most hard to control variable cost element, so why risk it? If that doesn't prove anything, than that someone must be a true idiot! Fit to subscribe for UMNO membership, lick their supreme leaders @rss and then apply to contest in the next GE. Good Luck!

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  32. Anonymous3:14 pm

    Buy proton car, get free BN/UMNO/MCA/MIC/all components membership for life.. then see how the sales performance after a year...

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  33. Anonymous5:53 pm

    The critical thing is how much R&D is in the pipeline; without constant innovation, they won't be able to scale to the next value level. Too much rakyat money has been spent on Lotus, Sauber and Agusta. Not much returns are evident from them. Over a billion written off for an indifferent engine and a suspension system. Also, in the past two years, a number of the developmen people would have left; do they recruit now, and where to find the right people, train them, and get them into the full picture? Hard.

    The second point is there's no recovery if you're saying there's a domestic market for the persona - how many have we seen on the road in the last three months? And if you're saying China and what else have ordered some 30,000 plus units, it's hard to square that against the 300,000 plus units yearly production that both plants must generate in order to stay afloat.

    The third point is we don't seem to have thinking power when we do things. You ruffle VW when VW commands the biggest foreign-make share in a market you're trying to go in? Have they done an impact scenario of what will happen when demand tapers over there in China? Also markets like Turkey, Iran and Indonesia can't be that big, even if you JV with them; not that anything from here will sell in Indonesia.

    There needs to be a lot of PR to market things. And if we remain as inconsolably bumptious whether you're talking about lighthouses or automobiles, we better get wise to reality.

    I don't think any member of the cabinet committee on the auto industry thought about these points; they hardly know anything about the foreign car markets, so where's the substance that their decision isn't just made of some wishywashy thinking that's going to cost the rakyat another two-three billion in the near future?

    Because that's the amount to revive another mahaleel doublespeak.

    Don't believe me? try changing the power window yourself for your waja and ask how come that of the toyota is simpler and this for the waja is more complicated than the soyuz with wires and bits sticking over - and the whole thing falls apart in months? Design screwup or made so that someone can make more money out of the motorist?

    Think harder.

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  34. Anonymous9:10 am

    Dear 'hidup malaysia'!

    walla has add up an irresistable delicacies on the table:

    "..try changing the power window yourself for your waja and ask how come that of the toyota is simpler and this for the waja is more complicated than the soyuz with wires and bits sticking over - and the whole thing falls apart in months? Design screwup or made so that someone can make more money out of the motorist?"

    - I'd told you already, bro..operational cost! Apart from that the 8.5km/litre petrol also. Proton maintenance is totally absurd & nonsense in terms of parts change & frequency of breakdown, it kills you slowly..like HIV, once you have it, you have to live with it and die in misery!

    Like HIV also..there is no cure for total ignorant & stupidity! Perodua, Toyota, Honda & Nissan only once a while have a flu and cough..but very-very-very rare in the first 3 yrs! Who pay the bill when your car see the doc, bro?..Proton ? hahahaha.....

    On the other hand,the spare parts vendors and the underworld political maggots are smiling to the ears having more of typical imbecile people like you in the house! Not to mention in Malaysia too! Better start to change, bro!

    If they bring in the Deutch people in the house..no more hanky-panky for the maggots, no more flesh to squirm over..that's why they ditch VW after they think about it all over and talk cock saying that they already improved their sales & export and can survive on their own..Nak jual kat dalam negara sendiri pun susah, hahaha...

    You got more of your things to talk over, bro..?

    "Just bring it over!" - anonymouse sez.. :)

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  35. Anonymous11:16 am

    The trouble with Malaysia is that everyone refuses to wake up to reality, be it the NEP, globalisation or the boleh attitude. And, if despite all the Government support and protestion, Proton is still unable to compete, what is the point of trying to 'flog a dead horse'. National Interest? National Pride? Or National Folly?

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  36. Islamic Car (?) sigh


    Sangat Bodoh!

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