MP SPEAKS Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak 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”.

If not, I must ask whether future pledges of the prime minister will be any more credible and believable!

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Wahid Omar failed big tim e in Johor Bahru on Tuesday when he tried to explain the rationale for the astronomical, unconscionable and unjust 480 percent causeway toll hike at the Johor Causeway from Aug 1.

All Wahid 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 as compensation.

After a two-year study, it was decided that there was no requirement for the government to take over the EDL.

Wahid ( right ) has not given any rationale or reason whatsoever to justify why Najib broke the two public and solemn pledges he made 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?

If there is nothing new in the two-year study that 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 reneging on these two EDL pledges, apart from the factors of sheer bad faith, insincerity, dishonesty and rank irresponsibility?

Will Najib admit that he is guilty of bad faith, insincerity, dishonesty and/or rank irresponsibility for making 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?

Wahid also failed abjectly to give any  rationale for the astronomic, unconscionable and unjust causeway toll hike of 480 percent, 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 hikes 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, declare whether any of his future prime ministerial pledges will be credible and believable!

LIM KIT SIANG is Gelang Patah MP and DAP national adviser.