By Tony Pua, MP for Petaling Jaya Utara

(Pic of protesters, from TMI)

We regret the attempts by certain leaders of the “Say No to Kidex” (SNTK) committee in publicly maligning Pakatan Rakyat leaders with half-truths and lies.

Pakatan Rakyat elected representatives – Gobind Singh, R Sivarasa, Rajiv Rishyakaran, Yeo Bee Yin and myself attended the SNTK rally yesterday to listen to the voices of the people.

Unfortunately certain leaders of the SNTK committee who accused Pakatan Rakyat elected representatives of telling “half-truths and lies”, dished out half-truths and lies themselves in the very same breath.

Worse, despite having initially agreed to allow some of us to respond to the issues raised on behalf of the state government, they decided that those who took the trouble to come for the rally should not have a right to hear any clarification from us.

We were surprised by the sudden about face because we thought the purpose of the rally was to obtain a response from us, which we were more than ready to provide.

Below are some of the accusations made which merit a response:

i. Pakatan Rakyat leaders were completely silent over the issue of Kidex

Speaker after speaker at the rally repeated the above accusation that Pakatan Rakyat elected representatives said “nothing” about Kidex. As Nazi Dr Van Goebbels rightly pointed out, “if you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it”.

I personally have issued at least half-a-dozen statements on Kidex. My colleagues in Petaling Jaya in the state assembly – Rajiv Rishyakaran, Yeo Bee Yin and Lau Weng San have issued even more, whether individually or collectively. None of these statements were in support of Kidex, most of which questioned the rationale and justification for the highway. One would just have to Google to see the statements on record.

Hence, the repeated accusation that Pakatan Rakyat leaders were “completely silent” are malicious lies designed by certain leaders within SNTK to incite hatred and anger towards the elected representatives and state government.

ii. The Selangor state government betrayed the people by approving the project

Certain speakers crucified the Selangor state government for betraying the trust of the people for approving the Kidex project, tacitly or otherwise.

Let me unequivocally state here that the Selangor Government has not approved Kidex, and hence the question of betrayal does not arise. This was clearly admitted by Kidex to The Malay Mail Online on 23 January 2015 when the concessionaire said “it is prepared to apply for further extension of its concession agreement deadline, as the Selangor government has yet to approve the project and the various technical reports submitted by the company.”

It should be pointed out that the highway is approved and awarded by the Federal Government. Hence, venom if any, should be directed at the parties who have approved and awarded the project.

iii. The Menteri Besar is playing games by not immediately rejected Kidex

The Menteri Besar, Azmin Ali has been accused of using delaying tactics and playing games by not immediately rejecting Kidex. He was also similarly accused of not saying anything about Kidex.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The Menteri Besar understood Kidex to be a highly important issue and took pains to emphasize that “any highway to be built must prove itself beneficial to the rakyat”. As such he outlined the strict conditions to which Kidex must comply before their application is to be considered for approval within 3 weeks of his appointment.

The Pakatan Rakyat government believes in the rule of law, and that every party should be given the right to respond and justify their case. If even a murderer gets his day in Court, then surely Kidex must be given an opportunity to prove their case and comply with any minimum requirements which are set by the state. We would assume that such a Government which acts on facts and figures would be preferable to one which acts on its whims and fancies.

In fact, the Petaling Jaya City Council has taken the extraordinary step of directly engaging a traffic consultant to review and verify the Traffic Impact Assessment submitted by the concessionaire. This report is currently being finalised.

The biggest disappointment however, is the fact that Azmin Ali has already personally conveyed the above message to the SNTK committee whom he met in November last year. During the meeting where I was present, it was consensually agreed that Kidex will have up to 14th February 2015, the expiry of the Concession Agreement extended by the Minister of Works, to comply with the conditions stipulated by the state government.

Under such circumstances, how can the Menteri Besar now come out and arbitrarily reject Kidex well before the agreed upon deadline?

Nothing complied to date

Finally, it is important to emphasize here that Kidex has not yet complied with a single condition meted out by the Menteri Besar. The traffic impact assessment has not proven its merit. The proposed toll rates and profitability has not been revealed. And the toll concession agreement has not been declassified for the public.

There are 3 weeks left for Kidex to comply with the above. Until and unless Kidex is able to do so, there will be nothing for the Selangor state government to consider, and hence, nothing for the state government to approve.