media told to shhh! on toll hike

proof all mainstream media are controlled by the government!! i mean further proof!!

see, here, malaysiakini news reported ‘play down hike in toll charge, dailies told‘. (if you are not a subsriber to malaysiakini, do go to my mentaljog extra to read).

toll rates are expected to increase as much as 60% come 1 jan. 2007. new year present for all drivers using highways.

according to malaysiakini, in a hush-hush briefing by our DPM, najib, he had called on editors in chief of all newspaper and even television to play down the news of the toll increase. why?

“They are afraid the issue would create another round of public fury,” a source told malaysiakini after the 90-minute meeting, of which even reporters covering Parliament were not aware.

i guess the are afraid of protests and demonstrations going on, eh. silly, no matter when the announcement is made, if there are going to be protests, there will be protests.

luckily the toll hike does not affect the biggest toll-road firm, projek lebuhraya utara selatan (PLUS). the 5 highways affected are as you can see in the picture above (picture courtesy of malaysiakini):

The highest increase is said to be 50 percent for the Damansara-Puchong Highway (LDP).

The other affected highways are Guthrie Corridor Expressway, Kesas-Shah Alam Highway, Karak Highway and Grand Saga Cheras-Kajang Highway.

in the meantime reuters was reported to say that according to the government, one of the reason for the hike was because they fall short of toll fees since many motorists had choose to use non-toll roads. haha. of course lah. if people can avoid paying, why not?

somewhere in the middle of this year, when fuel hike was announced, there were many demonstrations held, particularly one in KL (think in KLCC) where it ended with violence by the police. now i wonder will the rakyat demonstrate against the toll hike? although i’m not in favour of demonstration, it is their right to demonstrate if they want to… but i hope that if they do, they would not be stop by the police… er… the government… er… police… aiya, same lah.

note: since i don’t have internet access at home, sorry i have no time to respond to the comments. will try to do so one day.