UMNO Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh has criticised Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate for Puteri Wangsa, Dr Maszlee Malik, over his explanation for the coalition’s failure to abolish tolls, saying the argument that PH only governed for 22 months is no longer valid.
Akmal said PH has been back in federal power since November 2022, when its chairman became Prime Minister, meaning the coalition has now governed for about 44 months.
He said Malaysians are still paying tolls despite PH previously promising to abolish them as part of its election manifesto.
“If 22 months was not enough, PH has been back in government since November 2022 and its chairman has been Prime Minister ever since.
“By now, they have been in power for 44 months, yet tolls are still in place and the people are still being deceived,” he said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
Akmal said the public has every right to question when the promise will finally be fulfilled, given that PH has now spent significantly longer in government than during its previous 22-month administration.
“How much longer must the people continue to be deceived? One hundred years? Two hundred years? I hope the people of Johor reject those who break their promises,” he said.
Earlier, Maszlee defended PH’s failure to abolish tolls during its 2018–2020 administration, saying the coalition’s 22-month tenure was too short to implement many of its planned reforms.
Maszlee, who served as Education Minister during that period, said the toll issue did not fall under his ministry’s jurisdiction.
“That was a federal matter. I was the Education Minister, not the Works Minister.
“But to be fair to the PH government at the time, 22 months simply wasn’t enough to implement many of the planned initiatives,” he said.
At the same time, Maszlee questioned Barisan Nasional’s own record in Johor, claiming that several promises made during the 2022 Johor state election have yet to be fulfilled.
He also urged the media to seek clarification from Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi regarding the implementation status of BN’s state election manifesto.
