DAP's Senai state assemblyperson Wong Shu Qi today reminded the federal government not to "confuse" the new Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex toll increase with Malaysia's implementation of Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) for Singaporeans entering Malaysia.

 

"The new toll charges affect everyone who uses the road irrespective of nationality while VEP only affects foreign vehicles," she pointed out.

 

"We would like to remind the government that decisions and policies cannot come out of emotional responses," she added, after previously demanding an explanation whether the ramped up CIQ toll charges were a retaliation to Singapore's decision to increase their VEP fees that would affect Malaysian vehicles.

Wong also demanded an explanation as to which party will stand to benefit from the ramped up toll charges.

She said so in demanding that Johor Menteri Besar Khaled Nordin apologise for allegedly re-tweeting a couple of tweets that blamed DAP for championing Singaporean interests more than Malaysian interests over the VEP.

The tweets, by an account purportedly linked to Johor Umno, are of infographics indicating that the DAP is linked to Singapore's PAP.

The infographics also claim that Wong opposes the VEP as she wants to protect Singapore vehicles from having to pay higher toll.

They were re-tweeted by Khaled but the MB subsequently deleted them from his timeline.

Why is Plus collecting when it didn't build?

Meanwhile, Johor Pakatan Rakyat in a separate statement said there are several key reasons to oppose the hike.

In a statement signed by PKR's Jimmy Puah, DAP's Liew Chin Tong and PAS' Aminolhuda Hassan, the Pakatan members pointed out that Plus Malaysia Bhd, the concessionaire for the North-South Expressway has been collecting toll at the CIQ complex for over 20 years without ever constructing a highway.

Instead, the Eastern Dispersal Link (EDL) highway was built by Malaysian Resources Corporation (MRCB), and they questioned if the new toll charges were being paid to both MRCB and PLUS for the use of only one highway.

They also pointed out that Malaysians' stand to be affected most by the toll hike, as all vehicles will be subjected to a hike.

With Singapore set to match any hike from the Malaysian side, a Malaysian vehicle needs to end up paying RM33 in tolls for a trip to Singapore and back.

The EDL is a 8.6km stretch of expressway which connect the North-South Expressway to the CIQ complex.

Because the toll collection is done at the CIQ complex, all vehicle en route Singapore passing through will have to pay the toll whether or not it passed through the EDL.

"We also worried that the businesses in Larkin will be affected because many Singaporeans enter Malaysia to get the daily goods, and as such, this toll charges might lead to lesser Singaporeans entering Malaysia," they said.

Johor Pakatan urged the federal government to sit down and "negotiate" with the Singaporean government on the VEP charges and also the toll charges, and asked that the matter to be solved with "high neighbourhood spirit".

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