Don't fool Selangor voters, MB told as PJD Link announcements raise more questions

More questions are being thrown at Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari following his sudden decision to cancel the controversial Petaling Jaya Dispersal (PJD) Link, with a Bersatu lawyer joining criticism over the validity of such an announcement by a caretaker government in the middle of an election campaign.

Sasha Lyna Abdul Latif, who is deputy chair of Bersatu's legal bureau, also slammed Amirudin's indication that the project could be revived if certain requirements were met.

"Is he playing the fool with the hearts and minds of Petaling Jaya voters? Or is this unprincipled campaigning being practised by Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional (PH-BN)?" she asked.

Sasha said the announcement by Amirudin was an instance of election abuses by the current government, such as the allocations totalling more than RM500,000 announced by Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in Terengganu recently.

"We are appalled by the unprincipled campaign being carried by PH and BN, and we urge all candidates to have a clean campaign and focus on what the candidate can do for its state seat in the event they are elected by the people.

"These are the very electioneering abuses that PH and Bersih used to complain loudly about. Now PH-BN perpetrates the same abuses."

On July 31, Amirudin announced that PJD Link would not go ahead, citing dissatisfaction with the impact assessment reports.

But hours later, he said the project could be revived, saying there was a need for a traffic dispersal system for Petaling Jaya.

"So we will see again. If they can satisfy the people, we can continue. But at the moment, it is not possible because there are conditions that are not met," he had said.

The remarks were condemned by several groups, which challenged Amirudin to declare that the project would be completely scrapped.

The PJD Link, a four-lane dual expressway that will commence after the NKVE toll plaza on the Sprint Highway and end at the Bukit Jalil Highway Interchange, was rebranded from the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) project that was cancelled in 2015 by then-menteri besar Mohamed Azmin Ali.

The highway will pass through state constituencies such as Bukit Gasing, Bandar Utama, and Kinrara, all of which are strongholds of the PH coalition, which is hoping to retain power in the state, this time together with BN.