As toll hikes loom, traders and firms warned against passing the buck

(Malay Mail) – Putrajaya has warned transportation and logistics companies, as well as traders, against raising charges and the prices of goods amid the impending toll rate hike next year, the New Straits Times (NST) reported today.

The price increases scheduled for next year will incur greater wrath from voters, which is likely to translate to bigger losses for the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition in urban and semi-urban areas at the next general election, Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed reportedly said.

“Because of the hikes, the people will be angry and they will not vote for the government,” Nur Jazlan was quoted as saying by Malay daily Sinar Harian today.

“In GE13, we lost in the cities and in GE14, BN will (lose) even worse (in the cities),” added the Umno MP, referring to the 13th and future 14th general elections respectively.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Hasan Malek was reported by the NST as saying that transportation and logistics companies’ associations could be charged under the Competition Commission Act 2010 for increasing their charges, adding that his ministry has already started checking if Klang Valley traders are raising prices.

“It is a difficult time for Malaysians,” Hasan was quoted as saying.

“The traders should not push the burden to the consumers but, instead, share it with them,” he added.

Last Saturday, the NST cited an unnamed Works Ministry source as saying that nine highway concessionaires out of 15 in the Klang Valley may see their toll rates reviewed owing to “heavy losses”.

Besides the toll rate hike that will affect mostly urbanites living in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, KL residents have also been hit with a proposed assessment rate increase for their properties that is scheduled for next year.

Electricity tariff increases will also take place starting next year in the peninsula, Sabah and Labuan.

Such measures will follow the fuel price hikes, sugar price increases and the confirmation of the Goods and Services Tax a few months ago.

Last week, independent pollster Merdeka Center published a survey that showed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s approval rating dropping to a record low of 52 per cent this month, amid the rising cost of living.

A majority of survey respondents had cited worsening costs and inflation as their main grouses.

Opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat, which won the popular vote in Election 2013, has said that it will remind voters of the promises that BN has broken, such as the pledge to reduce toll rates over the next five years, come the next general election.