KUALA LUMPUR: Taking a swipe at the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government on its promise to abolish tolls, former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today asked what has happened to the promise.
In sharing a news report of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad saying that the only way to have free highways with no tolls is to raise the price of petrol, Najib claimed this is what happens when promises are not sincere.
"This is what happens when promises are not made sincerely for the rakyat but just because you are greedy for power," he said in a Facebook post.
He remarked that before PH became the government, they had promised to abolish tolls and that they had said the government will only need 'a few ringgit' to do so.
"Twisting the facts everyday when it was him who gave one-sided concessions," Najib said, most likely referring to Dr Mahathir.
"But the Barisan Nasional (BN) government and Najib Razak were blamed, when almost every year I abolished tolls in several areas," he added.
"Today you are the government, you say it is impossible to have highways without tolls.
"Previously Puchong (Gobind Singh Deo) and Simpang Renggam (Dr Maszlee Malik) made videos and posters that garnered millions of likes and views. What's the story today?" he asked.
Najib was referring to the pre-election promises of abolishing tolls should PH come into power.
Gobind had specifically spoken about the tolls in his area in which he said were the cause of traffic congestion.
Dr Mahathir today had said in Bali that he was against the toll-free highways pledge in the PH election manifesto.
The Prime Minister asked who would maintain the roads or build new ones if the government was to do away with toll collection.
Prior to the 14th General Election (GE14), Dr Mahathir had defended the need for tolls, pointing out as an example that it would be difficult to maintain the North South Expressway (NSE) if it was made toll-free.