Call on Dr. Mahathir Mohamed and top UMNO leaders to heed the advice of Tunku Abdul Rahman and withdraw UMNO’s involvement in the North-South Highway (NSH) privatization contract through Hatibudi and UEM to safeguard the good name of leaders of UMNO and government

Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, at the inaugural meeting of the DAP Committee to Oppose Tolls on Federal Highway Route II which will organize the mass signature campaign in Klang Valley to oppose Federal Highway Route II tolls, held in Selangor DAP Hqrs on Monday, 24th August 1987 at 7.30 p.m.

Call on Dr. Mahathir Mohamed and top UMNO leaders to heed the advice of Tunku Abdul Rahman and withdraw UMNO’s involvement in the North-South Highway (NSH) privatization contract through Hatibudi and UEM to safeguard the good name of leaders of UMNO and government

Malaysia’s elder statesman, Tunku Abdul Rahman, has again offered words of wisdom when he wrote on the North-South Highway (NSH) privatization contract in his weekly column, ‘As I See It’ in the Star today.

Tunku said: “As one of the founders of UMNO, I consider it improper and irregular for a leading political party to make use of its power to amass wealth at the expense of other business ventures.” He also said: “UMNO is already split down the centre because of party squabbles. Now we are going through another deal which surely will bring us disrepute and ruin our political image.”

I call on the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, and other top UMNO leaders to heed the advice of Tunku Abdul Rahman, and withdraw UMNO’s involvement in the NSH privatization deal of United Engineers Malaysia (UEM) through Hatibudi Sdn. Bhd., the UMNO investment company which controls 50 per cent of UEM.

This can be done by Hatibudi Sdn. Bhd. divesting and selling off all its shares in UEM, so that there could be no suspicion whatsoever of a conflict-of-interest situation in the NSH privatization contract, with Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, Ghaffar Baba, Daim Zainuddin and Sanusi Junid in their dual and conflicting role in Government and Cabinet on the one hand and in UMNO and Hatibudi Sdn. Bhd. on the other.

I have right from the beginning suggested the retendering of the NSH privatization to get the cheapest, most competitive and competent tenderer as one honourable way out of the NSH scandal, and I call on the Cabinet to review the entire NSH privatization deal and call off the award to UEM.

People of Klang Valley should not be forced to subsidies UEM’s NSH privatization deal by having to pay toll for using widened Federal Highway Route II

Works Minister, Datuk Samy Vellu, is now a very moody man, going about throwing tantrums, instead of answering the legitimate questions of the public about the NSH privatization deal.

Yesterday, he aid he was ‘fed up’ with objections to the proposed imposition of toll after the widening of the Federal Highway Route II from Subang to Klang, and Selangor might as well keep its old roads as everybody, including Barisan Nasional MPs have joined others to oppose the construction of the new highways.

I want to make it very clear that the DAP is not opposed to the construction and completion of the North-South Highway. We agree to the construction of the New Klang Valley Expressway in order to relieve the traffic congession deal, it can have the New Klang Valley Expressway and after completion, impose and collect toll.

The issue in contention is whether there is any immediate necessity to widen the Federal Highway Route II as the New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) would be constructed.

At present, the Federal Route II section from Subang to Klang suffers from acute traffic congestion, but only during peak hours. The New Klang Valley Expressway will provide a new 38 km highway link between the North Klang Straits By-Pass, via the Subang Airport Road, the North-South Highway at the Bukit Lanjan Interchange, Jalan Kuching and Jalan Ipoh to the Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway near Gombak, once completed, during peak hours at the Subang-Klang stretch of the Federal Highway Route II. As such, there is no necessity for the time being in terms of traffic volume forecasts to widen the Federal Highway II into a dual three-lame highway with the construction of NKVE.

The Federal Highway Route II should remain toll-free as at present.

By imposing toll on NKVE as well as on the widened Federal Highway Route II, the people in the Klang Valley are being forced to subsidise the UEM’s privatization of NSH.

The DAP has therefore decided to launch a mass signature campaign in the Klang Valley to protest and oppose the proposed collection of toll in the widened Federal Highway Route II for four reasons:

Firstly, in putting up two toll plazas in the widened Federal Route II, one at Batu Tiga and the other just after Institut Teknologi Mara, the government will be going against its own principle that road-users would have an alternative route to any tolled highway;

Secondly, with the traffic volume of 80,000 vehicles a day, which will exceed 100,000 in 1990, and at an average of $1.50 toll rate for the two toll gates, UEM would net $45 million a year and recover its outlay of $100 million to widen Federal Highway Route II in a little over two years. It will gross a total of $1.1 billion in 25 years, or $1.35 billion if given a 30-year concession period, which is a great under-estimate as this computation had not taken into account traffic volume increases and toll rate increases for the entire concession period. If this is not profiteering, I don’t know what is.

Thirdly, the people in Klang Velly, being caught tightly in the toll net of UEM, whether through New Klang Velly Expressway or the widened Federal Highway Route II, are being forced to subsidise the UEM’s North-South Highway privatization deal;

Fourthly, it will stunt the growth of the Selangor capital, Shah Alam, as well as adversely affect the development and growth potential of the other areas in Klang Valley.

The DAP Klang Velly mass signature campaign committee against tolls on Federal Highway Route II is under the chairmanship of the Selangor DAP State Dr. Eng Seng Chai (MP for Petaling Jaya), and comprise the following:

Chairman: Dr. Eng Seng Chai (MP for PJ)
Deputy Chairman: Sdr. Ahmad Nor (Deputy Secretary-General)
Vice Chairmen: Dr. Tan Seng Giaw (MP for Kepong and Assemblyman for Klang Bandar)
Sdr.V.David (MP for Puchong)
Sdr.Tai Sin Piau (S.A. for Bukit Gasing)
Sdr.Dr. Onn Hong Geok (S.A. for Taman Aman)
Sdr.N.Madhavan Nair (S.A. for Damansara Utama)
Secretary: Sdr. Chua Kow Eng
Asst. Secretary: Sdr. Tan Chik Poh
Sdr. Richard Yap
Treasurer: Sdr. Saw Kim Leong
Members: Ronnie Liu
Wee Choo Keong
Lee Eng Hua
Pang Su Peng