Regime change looms large at GE13

Liew Chin Tong 9:05AM Sep 1, 2012

COMMENT A very young demographic profile, a high urbanisation rate, ever increasing access to the Internet and extreme longevity in power, among other factors, will be working against the BN ruling coalition in the coming election.

There are many reasons for the international community to be deeply cognisant of this fact, and to prepare for a regime change for the first time since Malaysia gained independence in 1957.

Soon after the government suffered severe setbacks in the 2008 general election, the country went into a permanent campaign mode, and has remained that way ever since. Another general election has to be called soon, since the constitution requires that Parliament be dissolved by April 28, 2013 upon the completion of its five-year mandate.

It may be true that the government won 140 of 222 seats in the Lower House while the opposition managed to secure the remaining 82. But a closer look shows that the actual gap between the two coalitions to be much smaller.

The ruling BN actually won only 51.4% of the votes while the greater opposition gained 48.6%. Of the 7.9 million effective votes, BN and the Pakatan Rakyat were separated by a mere 313,509 votes.

As of the end of June 2012, there are 12.9 million Malaysians on the electoral roll. As many as 2.5 million of these - about 20% - are first-time voters; and it is these who will decide the outcome of the election.

The 13-party ruling coalition will be highlighting past achievements in its campaign and playing on the appeal of the status quo, while the opposition coalition vows to improve governance in the country through radical policy changes.

The status quo message is however unlikely to have an impact on an almost Arab-spring demography: 48% of Malaysia's population are below 25 years old and 70% are below 40 years old (though not all are voters).

The BN, especially its kingpin Umno, has always relied heavily on a rural vote bank. It has therefore good grounds to worry since as many as 70% of Malaysians now live in cities, compared to 11% in 1957 and 35% in 1980.

The young and urban are highly wired online as well. With 17.5 million Internet users, Malaysia's Internet penetration rate is 61.7% of the population and 81% of the populated areas. On top of that, Malaysia is also one of the most active country on Facebook, with 12 million users, ranking 19th in the world.

The easy access to alternative information has undermined the efficacy of the control over the mainstream media exercised by the government, be it through licensing procedures, censorship or partisan ownership.

Longest serving elected ruling party

The BN has been ruling Malaysia ever since its earliest guise, The Alliance, won a self-government election under British auspices in 1955. It is now the longest serving elected ruling party in the world. The only longer serving ones, are the non-elected communist regimes in North Korea, China and Vietnam.

The many negative signs of this political longevity are all too visible to the increasingly sophisticated voters. Essentially, not only has the government over the years alienated non-Malay ethnic groups through its race-based politics, rampant corruption and intra-ethnic economic inequality, but have also driven Malay voters away.

BN had for quite a while styled itself as the moderating force in the ethnically charged population. However, after Umno began turning right in 2005 both in rhetoric and in action, it began losing ethnic Chinese and Indian support. In 2008, significant numbers of ethnic Malays frustrated with corruption and cronyism joined this movement to vote against the government.

This sense of alienation has not diminished in the intervening years. On the contrary, more groups are showing open dissent against the central government.

The Kadazan Dusun Murut group in the state of Sabah is strongly aroused and highly critical of the government's handling of the long-standing citizenship-for-votes scandals that allegedly allow Umno to build up its support base in the state.

Umno strategists, using the party-controlled newspaper, Utusan Malaysia, and the affiliated right-wing group Perkasa, are working overtime to stop the dwindling of their Malay support base, and are doing all they can to portray the party as a fiercer ethnic champion than opposition Malay parties and leaders. So far, this seems to be alienating more middle-ground voters.

Across the board at the moment, what Malaysians seem to be seeking is greater economic equality as well as an open and clean government. And yet, Prime Minister Najib Razak continues with micro-level vote-buying measures such as giving cash handouts to strategic groups at a time when the country is in great need of macro-level reforms.

The long years in power has also seen the BN generate its own worst enemies. Many leaders in the opposition were formerly from the ruling coalition, including former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Their experience in government has been serving as a much-needed reassurance to voters that the opposition is ready to exercise power efficiently, while their personal networks within the system has brought valuable information and understanding of the system that had previously eluded the opposition.

Previous opposition coalitions (in 1990 and 1999) were hastily formed during election time and they easily collapsed soon after. An alternative coalition that has been tested for more than four years, with that has gained substantial administrative experience in governing four out of 13 states is in itself a novel - and critical - factor.

While all the built-in advantages that favour BN in an election have not disappeared and those that remain will be put to full use in the electoral contest that is to come, the factors that work against the government have been gaining strength as well.

For the first time ever, it does look very possible that the old government will be voted out.

Protect the bright future of our underaged teens

YOURSAY 'Why are the judges so blind? As a woman, I feel so outraged. There was no doubt that rape took place, but the rapist was not caged up.'

Father of 13-year-old: What if it's your daughter?

Changeagent: Something is seriously wrong with our judicial system. If only they can pursue the child rapists with half as much vigour, commitment and conviction as they did with Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim despite the lack of veracity and truthfulness in the two sodomy cases, it would send out a strong deterrent message to would-be offenders that statutory rape is an extremely serious crime that the community will not be tolerate.

What they have done instead is to give the impression that sex with minors can be tolerated and that pedophiles should try pushing their luck because the courts are sympathetic to them.

Anonymouse: Laws are meaningless if a clear and despicable offence is ignored. I feel sorry for the girl and her family.

If I were the father, I might just take that sorry excuse for a human out myself. What else can you do if you can't depend on the law?

I can bet if this happens, the law will punish the one who protects his family more than the one who destroys one. Such is the pathetic state of the Malaysian judiciary.

Chuath: When the judge(s) set an unlawful precedence, the people suffer and injustice perpetuated. The judge(s) should be dismissed for incompetence.

The punishment must befit the crime and the perpetrator, Chuah Guan Jiu, should be in jail. This is as though RM25,000 can buy back the childhood for the girl who was raped.

Haveacuppa: Irrespective of race or religion, the rapist should be given a jail sentence instead of a fine. These two statutory rape cases are setting a negative precedence for future cases.

Imraz Ikhbal: Only under the rule of corrupted regime will the offence of throwing a shoe at a judge be deemed more punishment worthy than rape.

Kgen: BN has led us into a moral cesspool where child rapists have more rights to a ‘bright future' than their victims. This is part of the degeneration and moral bankruptcy in the country under BN.

Anonymous_3e12: Why are the judges so blind? As a woman, I feel so outraged. There was no doubt that rape took place, but the rapist was not caged up.

What kind of message is the court sending out? That it's okay to rape? I hope they have daughters and when they are raped, see how they will react.

Geronimo: I wonder why MCA chief Dr Chua Soi Lek has not spoken out on these two cases. Maybe he is sharing the same thoughts as the judges, too.

Suhakam: Citing consent in rape cases worrying

Cannon: The defence of consent opens up a loophole. A person who has sex with a minor can later pay the victim off to coerce her to say it was with her consent in order for the accused to escape conviction.

I believe the decision defeats the intention of the law to provide minors strict protection and it undermines the purpose of the statutory rape law.

Anonymous #62163581: Judges, with these rulings you have changed the law on statutory rape - now your underage daughters, even 12 year olds, can say they "wanted it".

Why isn't anyone complaining? I haven't heard a squeak from all those virtuous 'protect Islam' groups.

Anonymous_3f68: Aggravated sexual assault with or without penetration, with or without consent with a child below 16 is liable to prolonged jail sentences in many countries and are deemed first degree sexual assaults.

But here in our country the justice system garlands the rapist and let him off with a reprieve.

Anonymous #19098644: The statutory rape law is meant to protect minors. The age of consent means that even if the minor consents, it is considered statutory rape.

Protecting underaged children is more important than protecting the future of the rapist. The BN has so badly subverted the judiciary that we have people without basic common sense sitting on the bench.


PAS Muslimat slams Najib over rape verdicts

HYL: Why has there not been even a word of condemnation from BN, except from some wannabes? Does this mean the BN condones child-rape in Malaysia?

I want to hear the opinion of BN leaders on this issue. Of course, MCA would not be able to say much as their president is also guilty of a past sex scandal. Oops, it seems like most of them are guilty of some sex scandal. Perhaps that explains the silence.

Anonymous #19098644: Malaysia is the only country we know of where the minister in charge of women's affairs is a man and also the PM.

It shows the BN is bankrupt of capable women MPs. Rapists are freed while those who throw shoes get one-year jail sentences. This is the BN form of justice.

2ctsworth: The women minister can't possibly know the trauma a woman feels after being raped. The physical torture is not the end of it all; ask PM Najib Razak how he would feel.

Onyourtoes: Good move, PAS. I think the time to talk is over. Public opinion must for once make the judiciary and the government capitulate to the moronic decisions that we have seen so often prevailing in this country.

For too long, despite whatever stupid decisions they have made, they have remained aloof and arrogant, giving you an impression that there is nothing the rakyat can do about it.

PKR bus attacked by ' UMNO samseng' in Kelantan

PKR's Jelajah Merdeka Rakyat which kicked off yesterday was marred when its double-decker campaign bus had its windscreen smashed and splashed with bright red paint during a pit stop at Kota Bharu.

The incident occurred at about 4.20am, said PKR deputy president Azmin Ali at a press conference this morning in Kuala Lumpur.

"The bus arrived in Kota Bharu at around 1.30am from Tanah Merah and was parked at Siti Khadijah market in preparation for a meet-and-greet programme later in the morning.

"The bus' driver and his assistant decided to sleep on the top floor of the bus, but at around 4.20am they were woken up by a loud noise.

"An inspection found that the bus front and side mirrors had been smashed. The windscreen was also splashed with red paint," he said.

The incident, Azmin said, appeared to be a planned attempt at disrupting PKR's campaign blitz as cement blocks were hurled at the driver's side of the windscreen, on top of red paint being splashed onto it, to prevent the bus from continuing its journey.

Kelantan is the party's second stop in its three-day programme across the Malay heartland.

Earlier yesterday, PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim, accompanied by his wife and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, made their first stop in Bentong where 300 people welcomed the convoy.

Also present at the event were party communications director Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad and director of strategy Rafizi Ramli.

The Jelajah Merdeka Rakyat campaign seeks to visit five states in three days - Pahang, Kelantan, Perak, Kedah and Perlis - and take part in 20 official programmes at multiple locations.

Prior to the attack, the bus had made stops at Kuala Lipis, Gua Musang and Tanah Merah, in addition to Bentong.

A police report of the attack was lodged at Kota Bharu police station at 5.14am.
'Gangsters are king'
In a Facebook entry, Anwar had decried that "samseng bermaharajalela" (gangsters are king).

Despite the incident, Azmin said the bus would continue on the campaign trail as soon as it is released from the Kota Bharu police station.

He refused to speculate who the perpetrators were but noted that this was part of the growing political violence targeted at Pakatan Rakyat in recent months.

Azmin took aim at Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak for failing to condemn previous attacks, which has resulted in further violence, including today's incident.

"Indirectly, consent is given to a culture of gangsterism. This culture never existed under the tenure of former premiers Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi but it is happening under Najib's watch. It appears that the gangsters are being given protection," he lamented.

Azmin also took to task Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein for the police failure in taking action against past violence.

"Even though several police reports had been lodged, to date, not a single person has faced justice...

"I am confident that this time Najib will also not respond and the police's investigation will bear no real action against these gangsters," he said.

Bus to continue with damaged windcreen

In February this year, Anwar's vehicle was attacked in Sembrong, Johor, and its window smashed and a week after that, an alleged BN supporter had attempted to lunge at Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.

Nurul Izzah's event again was hit with violence in May when one of her supporters suffered a bloody head from projectiles hurled at her ceramah in Kuala Lumpur. A week before that, a similar incident occurred in Malacca at an event for Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan.

After the press conference, Rafizi confirmed that the bus had been released from custody and will continue its trip to Perak with its shattered windscreen as it would take a week to get a replacement windscreen.

"The driver will need to drive slowly. We have only missed one stop at Jeli, the bus will head to Gerik in Perak where the campaign will continue," he said.

After Perak, the campaign will hit the trail in Perlis before concluding in Kedah on Sunday.

Rafizi noted that the bus had yet to receive approval from Road Transport Department (JPJ) to ferry passengers and as such, Pakatan leaders had to accompany the bus with their own vehicles.

"JPJ is delaying it but we're hoping to get the permit for passengers soon," he said, adding that the bus serves as a ceramah stage at various stops during the three-day tour.

He added that in light of the incident, PKR will speed up the launch of its second vehicle by this month - a campaign trailer.

Merdeka is about rights - Jeswan Kaur

The 'Janji Ditepati' theme has left the people confused, wondering why Merdeka Day is being misused to achieve objectives that go against the grain of 'independence'.

There is nothing more precious than “independence”, be it that of a nation or of self. In this respect, Malaysia has yet to savour both, as evident from events of not too long ago.

The 55 years of Merdeka or freedom from British rule have yet to teach the leaders of this country a thing or two about not taking independence for granted.

The theme for this year’s independence day celebration is “Janji Ditepati”, one which has been condemned by the opposition and even the public as it gives no hint of the significance of Aug 31, the date when seven chants of “Merdeka” reverberated at the city’s Royal Selangor Club field in 1957.

As far as the thinking person is concerned, this year’s theme smacks of a political agenda, a harbinger of the coming general election. The “Janji Ditepati” theme has also left the people confused, wondering why Merdeka Day is being misused to achieve objectives that go against the grain of independence.

In the face of such frustrations, the Barisan Nasional government celebrates Merdeka Day today, hardly fazed that its trickeries have left the people unhappy.

If that is the fate that has befallen Aug 31, why then blame the people for hitherto not being enthusiastically patriotic in commemorating the country’s independence day?

Can the BN leaders give the people a reason to believe in “Merdeka” and why Aug 31 deserves their utmost attention, instead of being looked forward to merely for its PH (public holiday) status?

Merdeka lost in political cesspool

The date for the next general election has yet to be determined by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s administration, but the desperation in wanting to win big time in the 13th general election has left BN attempting desperate measures, the latest being the “Janji Ditepati” propaganda.

The move to drag political pursuits into a historical event has earned the BN government brickbats but as always, BN refused to pay heed to the rakyat’s dissatisfaction.

Seen from a bigger picture, Merdeka Day is lost in a political cesspool created by BN. A sad day indeed when Malaysia’s independence is remembered through the “lip services” paid by the federal government.

Five decades later, the people are left wondering just for whom the Merdeka Day and Malaysia Day are meant for. Promises unkept, the plight of the poor and needy dismissed and fundamental rights of the people not respected – this is far from what Merdeka stands for.

From Peninsular Malaysia to Sabah and Sarawak, the helping hand of the BN government has failed to reach those crying for aid. In fact, Najib has no shown no interest in recognising the native customary rights (NCR) land of the indigenous people of Sarawak.

Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Noh Amar, in his capacity as the Selangor Umno deputy chief, had chided urban voters for being ungrateful for the initiatives implemented by the BN government, as seen from their refusal to vote for BN in the Sarawak state polls held on April 16, 2011.

In August 2011, Sarawak State Land Development Minister James Masing, labelled the Penan NCR landowners as thieves, accusing them of stealing oil palm fruit bunches from four major government-linked oil palm plantations, costing the Land Custody Development Authority (LCDA) and its joint-venture partners some RM33.6 million in losses.

Masing further humiliated the Penans by tagging them as “good story tellers” when the Penan women and girls cried rape at the hands of timber loggers.

The people of Sabah are just as heartbroken with the empty promises made by the federal government. With its “poorest state” status, there is no reason for Sabahans to rejoice vis-à-vis the Merdeka Day or Malaysia Day that was formed on Sept 16 and the abstruse “Janji Ditepati” theme.

To Chua Soon Bui, the Tawau MP, the federal government has a lot of explaining to do.

“What promises have been fulfilled in Sabah when, despite being an equal partner of the Federation of Malaysia and once the richest state in Malaysia, with rich natural resources including oil and gas, it has been reduced to the poorest state in Malaysia?

“What promises have been fulfilled for Sabah in term of 20-Point Agreement when Malaysia was formed on Sept 16, 1963, 49 years ago?

“It is a shame that Sabah is the most impoverished state in Malaysia today, with poverty rate of 19.7% as compared to Perlis – the second poorest state with a poverty rate of 6%. Sabah is 5.5 times poorer compared to the national poverty average of 3.6%,” she lamented.

Marginalised communities ignored

What does today hold for the marginalised communties whose plight the Najib-led government is far from listening to, what more reaching out to them.

An annual forum held for the lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders last year took a severe beating after it was declared illegal by the authorities. Seksualiti Merdeka’s sexuality rights programme came under attack by the BN government which alleged that the event was a deviationist activity that could destroy the practice of religious freedom in the country.

In December 2009, Immigration Department director-general Abdul Rahim Othman said a Malaysian transsexual fighting deportation from Britain would be punished for bringing “great shame” to Malaysia.

Mohamed Fazdil Min Bahari, a pre-operative transsexual known as Fatine, married a British man in a civil ceremony but was refused permanent visa on technical grounds.

Is Merdeka exclusively for a certain strata of society instead of all regardless of their backgrounds?

If yes, how then does the Najib administration go on claiming that it has “kept its promises” or “janji ditepati” so much so that Aug 31 has been given a connotation so misleading, all because BN has much at stake come the 13th general election?

If BN claims otherwise, then can it give the rakyat reasons to believe in “Merdeka”?

Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.

Umno, state your stand on hudud — P. Ramakrishnan

AUG 31 ― When Kelantan Umno chief Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamad demanded “why they (PAS) are unable to implement hudud laws in Kelantan?” Malaysians would like to know what exactly Umno’s stand on the hudud issue is.

Is Umno for the implementation of the hudud laws in Malaysia? We know that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had stated that hudud is not suitable for a multi-ethnic society like Malaysia. But that is not enough. He must publicly, honestly and frankly declare: “Umno will not implement hudud laws in Malaysia.”

Only then would it be very clear what Umno’s stand is. Otherwise, it would only be dithering without being specific.

If Umno has no intention of implementing hudud laws in Malaysia, why is it then goading PAS to implement hudud? Why is it provoking PAS on this issue?

Mustapa stated that “although the laws had been passed by the Kelantan state assembly in 1993, they were still in the ‘implantation’ stages and were not enforced”.

Surely he must know some facts and a little bit of Malaysian history. The Kelantan assembly passed the hudud laws in response to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s challenge to the PAS government to implement the hudud laws. He even promised to amend the Federal Constitution to enable the PAS government to implement the hudud laws.

But when the PAS government went ahead and passed these laws, Dr Mahathir did not honourably keep his word. He went back on his promise. He backtracked; he did not have the courage or the integrity to be faithful to his pledge.

But that was history. But what is the reality today?

PAS, to its credit, had moved away from the Islamic state and the hudud laws by adopting an inclusive philosophy which reaches out to every Malaysian. They have adopted, as a matter of policy, what is termed as a ‘benevolent state’, which addresses the needs of the poor, the marginalised, the voiceless and the helpless. For simplicity ― but erroneously ― it is commonly termed as a “welfare state”.

This shift is commendable. Instead of lauding this development in PAS, Umno is attempting to push PAS into hudud territory. What is your game, Umno? Shame on you that you cannot, unlike PAS, change for the better!

In the meantime, the MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek and his cohorts should stop baying like a pack of wolves on the hudud issue when they are unable to persuade Umno to state positively that hudud will not be implemented in Malaysia. Do that first; then you can take everybody else to task on the hudud issue.

He realistically claims that if “PAS were to amend the Federal Constitution to suit its religious teachings, then all Muslim members of parliament would have to support it.

“He said the situation would be similar to when PAS amended the state Constitution in Terengganu ― all Umno assemblymen there had to support it.”

His memory of history is much better than that of Mustapa’s! The simple question actually is whether Umno will support or oppose the implementation of hudud laws.

As long as Umno remains ambivalent on the hudud issue, MCA should not be aiming its guns at others who have stated their position very clearly.

Can Dr Chua give us an honest answer as to why the Terengganu state government under the Barisan Nasional has not repealed the Islamic Criminal Enactment, passed by PAS in 2002, when it ruled Terengganu state! Umno has had eight years (since it recaptured Terengganu in 2004) to prove its sincerity but has done nothing!

This is a test case for Dr Chua. Get the Barisan Nasional to repeal this enactment in Terengganu. If he can display the moral courage so sorely needed and demand without any hesitation that Umno should immediately repeal this enactment, only then has he the right to talk about the dangers of hudud laws.

Ralph Waldo Emerson would say, “Go put your creed into your deed.” — aliran.com

* P. Ramakrishnan, the immediate past president of Aliran, now serves on the Aliran executive committee.

Najib, wife become butt of joke

Aidila Razak 4:11PM Aug 31, 2012

 
Organisers of the Janji Demokrasi rally said today they were not aware that a rally participant had directed his bare buttocks at pictures of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor.

Gabungan Janji working committee member Maria Chin Abdullah said the incident appeared to have taken place on the opposite side of where the organisers were at Dataran Merdeka last night.

"We don't support this sort of action. It's not the way to behave. We don't support it at all," Maria said when contacted.

"We did not encourage this sort of behaviour and have even told the people not to bring placards".

In a picture of the incident now circulating on the Internet, a man who appears to be in his 20s, is seen with his pants lowered and exposing his buttocks at pictures of Najib, Rosmah as well as Election Commission chairperson Abdul Aziz Yusof.

The public figures' pictures were lined up on the ground, near yellow daisies and a bandana with the words 'Janji Bersih', and were surrounded by people taking pictures of the ensemble.

Another man is seen applauding the mooning while another person shows his middle finger at the pictures of the public figures.

In a video uploaded onto YouTube by pro-BN blogger Yuseri Yusoff, a large crowd steps on the now-ripped pictures of Najib and Rosmah, supposedly after the mooning incident.

Stomping on Najib's picture

Many who do so are in yellow shirts while some are seen deliberately stomping on the pictures in the video, which appeared to have been captured at the corner of Jalan Raja and Jalan Tun Perak.

Another pro-BN blog, Gossip Rakyat (GR), claims that the youth who dropped his pants has been identified.

"GR understands that one of the youths is paid by Pakatan (Rakyat) to do this despicable act of dropping his pants in public and trying to defecate on the PM's picture.

"GR will publish (his identity) in the next article. Just wait. You can't run anywhere. We hope the authorities will investigate this," the blog says.

About 10,000 people attended the rally that began at 11 last night, despite it being declared illegal by the police in a letter to organisers received at 2.15pm the same day.
Despite the peaceful outcome of the rally, police are investigating the organisers under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012.

The rally was aimed at reminding the government of its unfulfilled promises for clean and fair elections.
Its name plays on the government's official theme for the national day celebrations, Janji Ditepati (Promises Fulfilled), which is also the BN’s election campaign slogan.

EDL takeover could weaken future toll projects, says economist

By Lee Wei Lian

September 01, 2012

Highway concessionaires could no longer count on unyielding support for toll collections, said Yeah. — File pic

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 ― A government takeover of the Eastern Dispersal Link (EDL) could undermine future toll projects given as concessionaires must be mindful that the government could reverse support due to public pressure, said RAM Ratings chief economist Yeah Kim Leng. 

 

This comes after reports on Thursday that the RM1 billion EDL, which has not been allowed to collect any tolls since it opened in April, will be taken over by the government ― a move that could potentially utilise taxpayer funds and increase the country’s public debt levels.

Yeah said future highway operators now needed to be mindful that government support for toll collection was fluid.

“It makes it more difficult for future projects,” he told The Malaysian Insider when contacted yesterday.

Yeah added that for government should first gauge the public’s willingness to pay the proposed toll for such future projects, as well as determine if taxpayers would agree to foot the bill for privatisation deals.

The Malaysian Insider reported last December that the RM1 billion highway built by Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) would force motorists making roundtrips to Singapore via the Johor Causeway to pay about five times more than the present rate of RM2.90.

The decision to bar the collection of tolls when the EDL opened was widely seen as a move to avoid a public backlash in the Umno stronghold state in the run-up to the general election.

The steep increase in tolls would have provided fodder for the opposition, especially PKR, which held its national congress in Johor late last year to signal its ready to take over the state despite not winning a single seat in the Umno fortress during Election 2008.

Over 50,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily, mostly Malaysians living in and around the state capital who commute to the island republic to work.

The lack of revenue prospects since the new highway opened, however, caused the Islamic bonds issued by EDL’s owner ― MRCB Southern Link Bhd’s ― to be downgraded by RAM earlier this month.

Malaysia has seen the sprouting of privately operated toll highways since the 1980s and tolls were a major issue during the last general election.

The Najib administration has attempted to address public unhappiness over tolls, and either reduced rates or completely abolished tolls at several highways in and around Kuala Lumpur.

PLUS Expressways Bhd, which operates the North South Expressway, was also taken over by the UEM Group, a government-linked corporation, and national pension fund EPF for RM23 billion in 2010.

After the takeover, PLUS Expressways said it would agree to lower toll hikes and forego compensation in exchange for a longer concession period.

The latest toll project to come under scrutiny from the opposition is the West Coast Expressway being built by Kumpulan Europlus for RM7 billion, due to its interest subsidies and RM2.24 billion soft loan from the government.