That’s why she was heartbroken when she heard that Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Geely was buying 49.9% of Proton.

Speaking to FMT, she asked: “Will it still be known as a national car? And what’s going to be sold off next?”

The singer, known affectionately as Fran, said she was filled with “national pride” when she got the call to lend her voice to the launching of Proton Saga in July 1985.

“Lots of people turned up for the function,” she said. “I stood in a car, waving at the crowd like the Queen of England and singing the Proton Saga song as I went along.”

She recalled the excitement she felt at knowing that Malaysia had its own car and that she was representing it. “Every country in the world dreams about having its own national car. So when we had ours, it was such a proud moment for the country. Just imagine, people would come out in droves to buy Proton.

Fran, who has had more than 20 Number One hits on the local music charts and recorded 30-odd albums, described herself as a patriot.

She also sang the Malaysia Airlines theme song, “To Know Malaysia is to Love Malaysia”.

She said she was proud of “every little thing” she did to represent Malaysia.

“So it’s sad now when you see things slipping away bit by bit, with Proton being sold off and Malaysia Airlines struggling, among other things.”

She said national leaders should have looked into finding ways to save what she called the country’s “treasures” instead of bickering and slinging mud at one another.

“By right, we should be proud of everything we’ve created and made ours. We should look at what we can do to stop others from just taking and not giving. But everyone wants to sit in a high position and earn big salaries instead of turning things around so we can save the things that give us pride and joy.

“We need to see how we can start saving what represents our country.”

Fran acknowledged that some Proton cars had not performed well, but she said the company had done its job of giving the ordinary Malaysian a chance to own an affordable car that could reliably take him from Point A to Point B.

Fran herself drove a Proton Tiara for several years. It was passed on to her by her younger sister.

“I loved it so much that I didn’t want to get rid of it. So my elder brother has taken it over. It’s so old now, but we don’t want to get rid of it.

“So yes, some said Proton was not making much money. But what have we done to make it better? Have we just sat on it and let things dwindle and rust away?

“I’m dumbfounded over how easy it is for things to be sold off just like that.”

She said the people who decided to sell away such a large chunk of Proton were virtually stealing from the people of Malaysia, whom she referred to as the “true owners” of the company.

“I think it’s only fair that they let us have a say in it as well,” she added.

Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Ghani, in announcing the deal between DRB-Hicom and Geely recently, said Proton would remain a national car as the local company would keep the majority stake.

Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who set up Proton in 1983, disagreed. “My child is lost,” he said in a blog article.

At its peak, Proton was dominant in the local car market, with nearly 80% of new passenger cars sold coming from its factories. But over the past 15 years, it has fallen well behind second national carmaker Perodua. More recently, it started losing out as well to foreign marques Toyota and Honda.

Prime Minister Najib Razak has said that Proton could lose RM1 billion annually if not restructured.

He said the company last year suffered a loss of RM500 million on the back of discouraging sales.