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Media Comment
by Ronnie Liu
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(Petaling Jaya, Friday) :  Many Malaysians were furious when they learned that the BN Government has decided to allow the toll hikes up to 60% from 1 Dec 2007 for 5 different highways in the country inspite of the fact that these highways are making tonnes of money and most have recovered their building costs soon after several years of operations (like Gamuda of LDP and Grand Saga of Kajang-KL Highway).

And many Malaysians will blame S. Samy Vellu, thinking that he’s the only bad guy that stood for all the toll concessionaires.

But the mother of all evils is Umno.

Most (if not all) of these toll concessionires were owned by Umno or Umno-related companies. They obtained their concessions directly through the EPU of the Prime Minister Department ( not from the Works Ministry where Samy is the minister).

That explains why all agreements signed with these toll concessionaires were lopsided and totally against the interest of the people. Whether they make money or not, all of them were allowed to increase toll fees every three year, and each increase shall be no less than 20%. The Government even allows them to claim compensation if the traffic flow falls lower than the projected figures. When they go bust (like the PD-Seremban Highway), the Government must rescue them by bailing out with taxpayers’ money. In the PD-Seremban case, the Government bought it back with a loss of more than RM142 million. The owner, Projek Lebuhraya Utara Selatan Bhd, is certainly an Umno company.

When these companies are making money, they are allowed to keep all for Umno and its cronies. Ask PM Abdullah if you have doubts.

Yes. The mother of all evils is Umno. They are the beneficairies for most (if not all) of the 490 privitised projects throughout the country. None of these companies were owned by DAP, PAS or Keadilan.

No use blaming Samy alone. He is serving Umno’s interest so that he can keep his job and the fat allowances and perks that come along with the position.

The opposition parties and NGOs will hold at least one protest rally in the Klang Valley to express our disapproval. I will annouce the details in this blog. Hope to see you there in solidarity.But this is not a solution.

The Secretary General of DAP Lim Guan Eng has suggested that the Government should buy back all the toll concessionairs at a cost of more than RM4 billion in order not to burden the people. It’s a brilliant idea but Umno would not listen.

The real solution is to kick out the mother of all evils in the coming general elections. There is no two ways about. And always remember that a vote for MCA/MIC/Gerakan is a vote for Umno. Period.

Kick out Umno. Do not bring in other issues like “Pas cannot be trusted”, “possibility of Anwar rejoining Umno” and “DAP is a Chinese party” to confuse ourselves.

Dear Malaysians, please wake up to the fact that Umno is the mother of all evils.

Umno is the root of all the problems. If Umno lives, Malaysians will die. No?

(15/12/2006)