That is the big news on the front page of the New Straits Times. Finally, the public transport sector is getting the attention it deserves which has been overdue for a long time. I wonder whether this attention came about only because of the recent big oil price increase. Previously, any master plan for the country pays scant regard to the needs of the public who need an efficient reasonably priced transportation system. The emphasis for the past twenty years was on building the highways. There was low priority for other means of transportation, for example a mass rapid transportation system for the urban areas or a similar system linking the major towns.
I suspect this emphasis to cater to the needs of the car driving public has something to do with the national car industry. It is an egg and chicken situation. The nation wants to leap frog into the developed group of nations by shifting to a more industrialized based economy from the previously rural based economy. The nation’s leader put up a plan to galvanise all resources into the national car industry. The national car industry became a cause celebre which has to be a success by whatever means.
I have not seen anything to be proud of after so many years. The much hyped technology transfer has not materialized and the quality or standards seem stuck at least a few years behind the competitors. Why was our limited resources channeled to the car project instead of a better public transportation system that can benefit all walks of society.
The present administration has to undo quite a lot of things that has been the norm for the past generation. Good luck.
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