'My company is enforcing a pay cut and I still need to pay, toll, road tax, insurance, income tax and service tax as well.'

Toll concessionaires raked in RM13bil in profits

Noor Arianti Osman: People, whining is good to the extent that other people are also informed. But we can't stop there. We need to start making a change.

In the next GE, question your candidates on issues such as this, listen to their answers and vote based on the stand taken by these candidates on these issues. Do not stop there, get your family and friends to vote based on issues as well.

One of the ways to get this issue out in the open is to compel the government to make public all privatisation documents by having a thoroughly drafted Freedom of Information Act (FOI) in place.

Since we are at it, here's a thought. If there is an online campaign for the enactment of the FOI, how many of you here would put your name and IC number in support of the campaign? How many of you would talk to your MPs to vote for this Act in Parliament?

In the next GE, how many of you would question the candidates in your constituencies whether or not they are in support of the enactment of the Act, and vote based on issues, and not political parties?

ONG: Noor Arianti, I for one will do all that you proposed and more, even though it will not matter because my MP is already from Pakatan Rakyat. Even if all those from BN constituencies talk to their MPs, it still won't get a FOI Act through because the ruling BN will apply the parliamentary whip.

The last time I checked, BN still have an overwhelming majority. Therefore the BN whip is still much bigger than the Pakatan whip. This is mainly why voting for candidates based on issues and not political parties is among those silly ideas propounded by academic theoreticians with no idea of the real world.

Besides the little problem of parliamentary voting according to the whip, what happens if there are two different issues dear to my heart. One candidate espouses one issue and the other candidate espouses the other issue. Do I give them half a vote each?

I believe that in the real world, we still vote for party based on the party's manifesto and overall political philosophy, and not on individual issues.

I agree with you about supplying more details to the rakyat. Unfortunately how can anyone, including LGE (Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng), give us the details we would like when everything are either official secret or commercial secret hidden away in the vaults of the BN government and the concessionaires?

On another note, don't forget that besides the increase in toll rate, vehicular traffic has also been increasing. If traffic volume increases by 10%, a 10% toll rate increases actually increases toll revenue by 21%.

Bangsa Malaysia: At least Noor Arianti has no objection to pay the ever increasing toll. I do have a concern.

My company is enforcing a pay cut and I still need to pay, toll, road tax, insurance, income tax and service tax as well. I do not know how to manage all this.

Macam mana nak ‘tighten the belt' lagi macam Najib cakap... apa lagi nak ‘tighten'?

Onyourtoes: For toll concession business, the revenue is almost certain - in fact, the government has guaranteed it.

That being the case, what should be the reasonable return of investment? In finance, we call this risk-free rate. In other words, if the business is risk-free, the rate of return cannot be that high.

So the first question we have to ask is what would be a reasonable return given the risk-free status of this business. For risk-free rate, we usually refer to interest rates of government securities which are not more than 5% over the past 10 to 20 years. So how much are these toll road concessionaires making when compared to the risk-free rate?

Second, we have to look at costing because revenue is only one side of the coin. Were there deliberate cost padding going on when roll roads are been built and maintained.

You see, most toll road operators are concerned with high profit because it may generate backlash as LGE now pointed out. But the problem is actually deeper than this. Many of these toll operators probably have siphoned part of revenue and expended it as cost before the profit is calculated. So now you see the problem.

Since we are now debating on independence and who fought the British, I would like to highlight that when British ruled Malaya, they managed to build the trunk roads for the whole country, toll free.

Please don't talk about cost being lower at that time; everything is relative. How many cars were there on the road then, and why the British was able to do it? Now you look at Sabah and Sarawak, how long have they been independent? Do you know the road system there, quality and coverage wise?

Of course, in all business dealings, we have to honour the contracts. But if the contracts are overtly lopsided, unfair and even tainted with corruption, I think it is the right of the government of the day to revise them. We amend the Federal Constitution numerous times, didn't we?

Wira: Slam the concessionaires with an excess profit tax if they keep on increasing toll rates. Use that money to improve public transport. This is what I'd expect a Pakatan government to do if and when it takes over Putrajaya.

Pemerhati: This highway robbery of the rakyat was planned and implemented by Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the Umnoputras. The terms were lopsided and unfavourable to the rakyat and so the agreements were kept secret.

Mahathir again screwed the rakyat when he signed another unfavourable deal, against the advice of the chairman of TNB (Tenaga Nasional Berhad), with the independent power producers, which has resulted in high electricity charges.

Jedi_Who: We need a change of government. Only then can these secretive walls of corruption be exposed and the people benefitting from them be taken to task once and for all.

Born Free: As expected, all users have to pay, irrespective of whether you are enjoying special rights. Indeed, the toll concession agreement was drafted to benefit only Umno leaders.

MACC should step in and prove to the people that the agreement is fair. Will they?

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