I AM aghast by MCA National Youth Vice Chairman Chua Hock Kuan on his statement over MRT 3 project. Chua’s statement is disgraceful and obviously ignoring rakyat’s interest, in addition to trying to sweep the Government’s shortcomings under the carpet.
Earlier, Tanjong Malim MP Chang Lih Kang has raised concerns over additional RM50 bil loan guarantee that the Government has to issue for MRT 3, on top of the existing committed loans of up to RM114.9 bil for DanaInfra and Prasarana Malaysia Bhd (Prasarana).
Despite Chang presenting data sourced from the Finance MInistry, National Audit Department and Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM), Chua however, regarded them as “unfounded, unprofessional and absurd”.
Chua should be mindful that an elected lawmaker’s responsibility is to provide check and balance against the Executives on behalf of the rakyat to ensure national interest is safeguarded. Hence, Chua’s comment on Chang’s statement is definitely an insult to the Legislature!
Moreover, Chang has urged the MRT 3 project to be referred to the parliamentary select committee for further deliberation and scrutiny so that the RM50 bil project can be implemented professionally and the failure of MRT 1 in ridership will not be repeated.
So, why is Chua telling Chang to report the matter to the police or the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)? Probably, if Chua has a better understanding of how democracy works, he may not come up with such ignorant remarks.
Prasarana not doing well
I would like to remind Chua that as a youth leader of the ruling coalition, he ought to defend his leaders using facts and figures. With Prasarana reporting annual losses ranged between RM3 bil and RM5 bil for the past three years, how can Prasarana service its debts if the rail and bus services fail to achieve their passenger targets?
With MRT 2 opening this year, and MRT 3 in the future, its operational losses are expected to increase exponentially if there are no improvement in passenger numbers. So, what is the Government’s plan to get more people to use public transport?
These are some of the questions perhaps a MCA youth leader like Chua should help to answer and enlighten all Malaysians.
Lastly, the idea of “delayed mega projects resulting with sharp increases in costs” is a myth in the case of MRT projects in Malaysia. Prasarana’s debt has increased RM12.3 bil since launching MRT 1 in 2017.
What is absurd is that if the Government does not learn any lesson from MRT 1 for any upcoming mega projects. Otherwise, the rakyat would be burdened with billions in debts just to bailout these projects if they fail in the future. – May 22, 2022
Seah Jhen Pei the is head of young professional bureau of PKR.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
