Najib must personally speak up and explain why he had reneged on two specific promises of “no toll charges for non-users of EDL” and “No toll for EDL” and whether future Prime Ministerial pledges are any more credible and believable!
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar, failed big time in Johor Bahru on Tuesday when he tried to explain the rationale for the astronomical, unconscionable and unjust 480% causeway toll hike at the Johor causeway from August 1.
All he could say was that the decision to increase the Johor causeway toll at the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex at the Sultan Iskandar Building in JB was made after a two-year study following the government’s decision not to impose toll at the Eastern Dispersal Link (EDL).
Wahid said toll collection at the EDL by its concessionaire, Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) was supposed to have started in 2012, and the government is paying the concessionaire RM11 million a month in compensation.
After a two-year study, it was decided that there was no requirement for the government to take over the EDL.
Wahid has not given any rationale or reason whatsoever to justify the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak breaking two public and solemn pledges to the people of Johor Bahru in 2012, viz “No toll charges for non-users of EDL” and “No toll for EDL”!
What is the new discovery from the government’s two-year study which Najib and the authorities had not known about when the Prime Minister made the two pledges of “No toll charges for non-users of EDL” and “No toll for EDL” in March and September 2012 respectively as to justify the reneging of these two solemn EDL pledges by Najib?
If there is nothing new in the two-year study which the government had not known or no good reason why it should not have known before the two EDL pledges were made by Najib, what then is the reason for the reneging of these two EDL pledges apart from the factors of sheer bad faith, insincerity, dishonesty and rank irresponsibility?
Will Najib admit that he was guilty of bad faith, insincerity, dishonesty and/or rank irresponsibility when he made the two EDL pledges in 2012 of “no toll charges for non-users of EDL” and “No toll for EDL” – as Najib never meant to honour the two EDL pledges when he made them in 2012?
Wahib also failed abjectly to give any rationale for the astronomic, unconscionable and unjust causeway toll hike of 480%, the indecent haste for the imposition for the toll hikes in less than a week of their announcement and why there was no proper public consultation or feedback before the astronomical and unconscionable toll hike were imposed.
It is clear that only Najib can address these questions about the violation of the two Prime Ministerial pledges on the EDL in 2012, and Najib should not tarry any further but make a special trip to Johor Bahru to personally speak up and explain why he had reneged on his two specific promises of “No toll charges for non-users of EDL” and “No toll for EDL”, and most important of all, whether any of his future Prime Ministerial pledges are credible and believable!