4 July 2022

Tougher DUI laws: Not Pakatan, but current government which tabled and passed them

In response to Pakatan Harapan’s former Transport Minister Anthony Loke, who reportedly said that he felt “disgusted” that incumbent Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong had claimed credit for Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) initiative to toughen penalties for driving under influence laws.

In June 2020, the Transport Minister said his ministry is finalising amendments to Sections 41 to 45 of the Road Transport Act 1987 (Act 333) and promised harsher punishment for those convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

Hence, while Pakatan Harapan did pass around the motion of making the penalties for drink-driving harsher in their 22-months long administration, it only took the new Perikatan Nasional government 100 days to finalise the proposed amendments for the Cabinet’s approval and to be tabled subsequently. Evidently, there is a difference between thinking and acting.

Following that, the proposed amendments were passed during the August Parliament session.

Anti-public transport Pakatan government

In contrast to what the incumbent Transport Minister managed to accomplish, the PH government was arguably anti-public transport, owing to their decision of suspending and terminating various public transport infrastructure-related projects.

What has PH to show? Flying cars? Third National Car Project? Meanwhile, the public transport infrastructure projects from the BN era were almost entirely suspended, terminated or delayed, include  the Kuala Lumpur–Singapore high-speed rail (HSR), Johor Bahru–Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS), Klang Valley Double Tracking (KVDT) project, as well as reduced the scope of the LRT3, pushing back the completion to 2024.

The recently launched MRT2 project was also a victim of PH’s suspension, which also had a reduced scope compared to the original plan.

Mike Chong Yew Chuan

MCA Spokesperson

-MCA Online-