Yoursay: Is BN taking credit for scrapping its own tolls?

Sadness seeps in over closure of Shah Alam tolls

FlabberPro: These toll plaza employees are at a dead-end job and it is good that this has come to an end.

There is no future in being a toll booth collector. So, be proud that God has realigned their lives for the better. Get another better paying job that has a better prospect and better future.

Being in an oppressive job takes you nowhere. So, I do not share their sentiments. And I think it is good that it has happened.

VGV: Thank God, as you all didn’t lose your jobs. After all, you were only transferred out to another location.

Many employees from other sectors, whether government or private, too would feel sad if they are transferred out. It’s no big deal.

You must understand that when many factories closed shop, the suffering of the workers were greater, due to the retrenchment. Anyway, you are still safe, so be happy my friends.

Bob The Builder: Don’t feel bad, there are plenty of jobs out there with better pay, rather than those dull jobs at the toll gates with so little pay and unproductive work.

2018 may bring you guys better future instead.

Anonymous_40f4: These toll plazas should not be there in the first place. Every time the BN government does something to a road, they erect a toll and collect toll for donkey years to make themselves and their cronies super rich.

The Shah Alam tolls should have been taken down 20 years ago. Now the Plus Malaysia Berhad (Plus) Negeri Sembilan highway is another rip-off. That toll too should have been taken down 20 years ago.

On the eve of every election, BN stops a few “toll robberies”. Malaysia is probably the country with the most tolled roads. Some of the roads like the Damansara-Puchong Expressway (LDP) are not fit to be called highways, it’s just an upgrading of the existing road, but the thieves and
their cronies collect toll.

These cronies don’t have to work hard to become rich, they just need to have the connections, and collect toll.

Saga: Selangor BN chief Noh Omar, it was Pakatan Harapan’s idea to call for the tolls to be abolished, but you were quick now to abolish these few tolls because you are frightened that you will be wiped out totally in the coming general election.

Anonymous 1658941462195551: Umno, try to abolish the Shah Alam Selangor Highway (Kesas), LDP and Sprint highway tolls – can you?

Kangkung: Who benefits from the closure of any toll gate? We, the taxpayers will have to pay compensation that runs into billions, but the Umno government and MO1 (Malaysian Official 1) get the credit.

Ultimately: BN takes credit for abolishing the toll plazas they had put up, unnecessarily, to benefit their crony companies? How stupid do they think the people are?

It’s a win-win for them, as we the taxpayers are still coughing up money to pay the toll concessionaires for doing nothing for 20 years, due to lopsided contracts that are declared a national security threat if revealed to the public.

And BN supporters are celebrating? I assume these guys don’t pay taxes.

But hey, your oil money is being wasted too, and you are paying more for petrol. The “left hand, right hand” principle at work.

AJ: The workers are sad because they don’t get to help Plus suck the people’s blood anymore?

Yes, Noh Omar, this is indeed a Harapan achievement, and the people’s victory against a terrible government.

Forging uneasy alliances for the greater good

Anonymous_3e86: Well said, writer Mariam Mokhtar. We must not dwell on the past and forget that we have to deal with the present. The present will determine our future, and the future of our children and grandchildren.

Dwelling on the past will only hinder our efforts to move towards a better future, as we cannot focus on the issues at hand. The present issue is Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Umno.

HaveAGreatDay: Reading your piece on New Year’s day lifted my spirit somewhat – perhaps former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s apology may indeed provide that extra boost required to fire up the opposition.

No neutral analyst I have read gives Harapan any chance to push the Umnoputras from Putrajaya. Yet, the fact that MO1 has not called GE14 to date points to the fact that he may not really be that confident.

Come what may, I can only hope the Umnoputras are graceful losers should the unimaginable happen after GE14 – namely, if MO1’s keys to Putrajaya fall into Harapan’s hands.

Appum: Well said and written as always, Mariam. This is the factual situation facing us in 2018.

Do we want change, or do we want to still allow the kleptomaniacs, cheats, abusers and extremists, using race and religion, to continue ruining this country?

As we can gauge, the urban Malaysians, and I mean Malaysians of all races and creeds, have awakened with properly informed literature to what is happening to this nation, and to the current stock of politicians who have misused and mismanaged this country for their own selfish gains and profit.

If such people were to think deeper into the matter, such race and religious rhetoric carry no such threats. It’s all just emotional weakness and fear on their part to believe such things so easily.

Hank Marvin: What Mariam says makes lots of sense. Yes, let’s get rid of Najib with the help of Mahathir. Then we run the show ourselves.