LETTER | Today is the fifth day into year 2018. The Eastern Dispersal Link (EDL) toll charge has been abolished for the fifth day. Yet, we have not heard from the Singapore government whether they will abolish the reciprocal charge on their side.

By having the RM13.60 EDL toll charge abolished on the Malaysian side, Singapore should also scrap their toll charge of SGD5.30 as soon as possible. It is a fact that both governments have gained windfall incomes at the expense of road users, including many Johoreans, since the toll war started in 2014. As a result of the egoistic showdown by those in power, ordinary citizens have had to suffer increase in cross-border travel expenses. Local businesses and daily travellers are gravely affected, yet the two governments continue with this irresponsible act till today.

I hereby urge Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai to talk to his counterpart in Singapore to make sure the Republic abolishes the reciprocal causeway toll charge. Since the Singapore government always insists on matching the toll charge at the Causeway, it is now time to abolish the SGD5.30 charge to correspond with the current toll charge in Malaysia. There is no excuse to delay this, following the January 1 EDL toll charge abolition.

For the ordinary people, it is quite disappointing that no government leader from either side talks about the abolition of the toll charges until today. This is a far cry from the aggressive approach taken by the leaders when implementing the charges and collecting extra income from the people a few years ago.

I sincerely hope the issue will not be delayed further. Let us hope that leaders of both countries can really bring new hope to the commuters who travel frequently across the border.

WONG SHU QI is Johor DAP publicity secretary and Senai assemblyperson

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.