25 February 2019

Press statement by MCA Deputy President Dato' Dr Mah Hang Soon

Fulfil promise of abolishing highway tolls; stop diverting attention!

The Pakatan government has not only violated its promise by failing to abolish highway tolls, but also attempts to divert attention from it with lexicon play. I would like to reiterate that, the Pakatan’s pre-election pledge is to abolish highway tolls, and not declare highway toll-free for midnight, or rebranding tolls as congestion charges, or imposing a 30 per cent discount during off-peak hours.

It is a coincidence for the Prime Minister’s Office to come up with a ‘‘proposal’’ which has no exact timetable to execute, during the by-election period in Semenyih. It attempts to open up the proposal for public discussion, in hopes that the people will accept the modified promise after a heated discussion.

We must remind Pakatan not to fool the masses again. Their pre-election pledge in black and white was to abolish highway tolls nationwide. It is definitely not about adjusting toll-collection hours at four highways in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

I would also like to emphasise that the Pakatan’s pledge is to abolish highway tolls, but not during a time when most people are asleep, which is from 11pm to 5am. In addition, they should not rebrand the tolls as “congestion charges”, collecting the same amount of toll fares in six peak hours. They should not suggest that the four highways’ users may enjoy the 30 per cent of toll fares only at specified hours.

I am of the view that this concerns the integrity of a ruling coalition. In fact, during Barisan Nasional’s administration, after Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad relinquished from his position as the fourth Prime Minister, the coalition has subsequently abolished 11 toll stations. The coalition also proved to others that it was able to build highways for the rakyat without going through privatisation. This includes the 9-kilometer Rawang Bypass, the 325-kilometer boulevard (Lebuhraya CSR) from Kota Bharu to Pahang, and the 5,424-kilometer Pan-Borneo Highway (Lebuhraya Pan Borneo), which were all made toll-free highways.

We expect the Ubah of political parties will transform for the better well-being of the rakyat, and not trample people’s trust instead.

Dato’ Dr Mah Hang Soon
MCA Deputy President

-MCA Online-