Phoney toll freeze - The sequel

It's deja vu time. Bernama yesterday carried a report "No Toll Increase This Year, Says Samy Vellu" in which Samy Vellu assured Malaysians that the government would not allow any toll increase this year.

PETALING JAYA, March 7 (Bernama) -- Good news for motorists. There will be no highway toll increase this year.

The assurance came from Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu who said Tuesday that the government would not allow any toll increase this year.

He said the ministry also did not face any pressure from the highway toll concessionaires to increase the rates.

"There's no pressure. No one can pressure the Works Ministry, It's (ministry) pressure-proof," he told a news conference after opening the International Conference and Exhibition on Tunnelling and Trenchless Technology in the 21st Century here.

Wah-wah, what a hero our Samy is. But he isn't telling us the whole story. As we pointed out last Sept, after the last round of price increases and after the government gave a similar assurance, there are no scheduled toll increases this year under the existing concession agreements. Check out our blog entry written last September.

So Samy's bravado is not what it seems. And journalists fail their readers by not pointing out this simple fact.

The Bernama report continues:

He, however, declined to comment when asked whether there would be any toll hike next year.

"We are talking about this year, why talk about other years," he said, to the amusement of the reporters.

A-ha! We know why he doesn't want to talk about toll hikes next year, don't we? Let's see what happens when the toll concessionaires start demanding their scheduled toll hikes (or compensation from the government in lieu) next year. We will wait with bated breath for Samy's bravado then.

But really, our newspapers should know better than to unquestioningly write down everything our ministers say that portray them in a positive light.