Chua likens our roads to Iraqi war zone

The MCA president criticises Pakatan Rakyat for politicising the AES.

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KUALA LUMPUR: MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek today defended the Automated Enforcement System (AES) of traffic control, saying it was necessary in the light of statistics on road accidents.

He likened Malaysian highways to the Iraqi war zone and urged Pakatan Rakyat to stop politicising the issue.

Quoting official statistics, he said there were 400,000 road accidents last year and 6,800 road deaths.

“The number of American soldiers who have died in Iraq is fewer than 3,000 since they were deployed to that country,” he said.

“That is already a big political issue in America. But we have 6,800 people who die every year. Imagine that.”

Chua was addressing a press conference after chairing the MCA presidential council meeting this afternoon.

Pakatan bashing
When asked on the allegations that AES was a crony project as its concession was allegedly awarded to the niece of former Umno state assemblyman Redzuan Salim, Chua said the definition of cronyism was up for interpretation.

“Umno has 3.5 million members, and MCA has 1.1 million members. So whatever projects they do, certain individuals would definitely be awarded,” he said.

He added that AES was a long-standing project that has been discussed since 2005.

“And (Redzuan) used to be a good friend of Anwar Ibrahim. Are you (media) going to play up this issue?” he said.

He mocked Pakatan Rakyat for playing the blame game when the auditor-general’s report had also found wrongdoings in the Pakatan-held states. He noted that the Kedah government had repeatedly paid a contractor for repairs job on three low-cost housing units which did not exist.

“Actually there isn’t much difference between BN and Pakatan. One has been in power for a long time, thus there are many scandals; the other only has ruled for four years, but bad things start to crop out,” he said.

He reiterated that the transport ministry should provide a grace period of between three and six months to AES offenders; and summonses issued in that period should only serve as warnings.

Hadi lacks confidence
On a separate issue, Chua said PAS president Hadi Awang’s desire to go head-to-head with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in Pekan was due to the PAS president’s lack of confidence in retaining his original seat in Marang.

“It’s better that he got defeated in the hands of the PM. If he goes to Pekan, he doesn’t die in vain, he dies as a hero.

“It shows that the PM is a formidable candidate….that takes a PAS president to fight. Indirectly it elevates the standing of Hadi Awang as well,” he said.

Meanwhile, the MCA president said the party was going to submit a 25-point recommendations on National Education Blueprint 2013- 2025 to Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin next week.

He said the recommendations included an objection to introduce national school syllabus on Bahasa Malaysia to Year 4 to Year 6 students in the vernacular schools.