About 30 vehicles managed to pass through the Batu Tiga tollbooth along the Federal Highway towards Kuala Lumpur for free during a protest against toll charges today.

According to eye-witnesses, one of the protesters forcefully disabled the bar at a tollbooth, allowing the vehicles to pass without paying the RM1 fee.

Shah Alam toll protest Rodziah Ismail and mohd rezwan The free passage came to a halt when Sri Andalas state legislative assemblyperson Dr Xavier Jeyakumar, who is also a state exco member, directed the protester to stand down.

When later, Jeyakumar said he had informed highway concessionaire Plus Expressway Bhd that he would be reimbursing the company for losses incurred.

"I already met with the people from Plus here and they said they will review the CCTV footage to confirm how many cars have passed through. It should be around 30 cars.

"I had told them that I will pay it accordingly," he said.

The protest, which began at 2pm, lasted for about two hours involving 300 people at the Batu Tiga and Sungai Rasau tollbooths who are demanding that charges on both gates be removed.

Passage used to be free

Among other Pakatan Rakyat leaders at the scene were Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad ( below ), Pandamaran state assemblyperson Ronnie Liu, Batu Tiga assemblyperson Rodziah Ismail and Kota Anggerik assemblyperson Yaakob Sapari.

Shah Alam toll protest Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad Some of the protesters chanted “Vote for Pakatan, no toll. Vote BN, pay toll” while carrying placards which read “Abolish the toll” and “Scrap the toll for the rakyat”.

Several Pakatan leaders told reporters later that the tollbooths have been in operation for 20 years and the profits that have been made far surpasses the construction cost of RM357 million.

They also pointed out that the passage used to be free before 1992.

On Friday, the Shah Alam Umno division held a similar protest at the Sungai Rasau tollbooth, involving 200 people.

About 200 Shah Alam Umno division members staged a protest at the Sungai Rasau toll plaza here yesterday urging the government and related parties to remove toll charges.

 

"I sincerely hope the government in conjunction with Umno's 66th anniversary celebration, will consider abolishing both tolls," said the division’s deputy chief Zulkurnain Md Ruslan.