OUR MORAL DUTY TO OUR DESCENDANTS

In the early 1990s, driving from USJ9 in Subang to the Federal Highway (Kentucky junction) during peak periods could take up to an hour. I could jog that same distance is less than half-an-hour. Then it could take another hour or more to get to the city centre and even longer if you needed to go to Ampang, Cheras, or whatnot.

I was then in my 40s and I have to admit I was a very bad-tempered person when driving. I constantly suffered ‘road-rage’ and on so many occasions I actually stopped my car to engage in ‘skirmishes’ with other road users (or ‘push’ their car off the road). Eventually my wife refused to allow me to drive because she was worried I might one day kill someone (or myself).

In 1993, when the NKVE was finally completed after five years of construction, I breathed a sigh of relief. Finally I could zip down to town in just a few minutes. The fact that we had to pay toll to drive on these new and very convenient highways was not an issue. I would pay anything just to stay sane and not end up in a mental institution or in jail for beating someone up (or worse, for killing someone).

I was so glad when more highways were planned and you had so many alternatives to use. Soon even these highways became jammed as more cars were sold and released onto Malaysian roads. It appears like Malaysia’s highway planning was ten years behind the car sales and the government always had to play catch up. For a short while these highways would be fun to drive on and then, soon after that, they became as congested as before.

So what is the problem here?

Are we selling too many cars? Are we too slow in planning the building of new roads and highways? Are cars too cheap that many families can own two, three or more cars per household? Do Malaysians have too much money that they can afford so many cars that, combined, cost more than the price of the house they live in? Do Malaysians have so much money that each person drives his/her own car and most cars have only one person rather than save money by car-pooling? Are the toll charges too low that everyone can afford to drive on the toll roads and highways even how badly jammed these roads and highways eventually become?

I really do not know what the problem is but for sure we can drive from Birmingham to London or Manchester in a shorter time than you can drive around Kuala Lumpur. I suppose this is the same in most cities. Driving across London may take longer than driving from Manchester to Birmingham.

We can remove toll charges completely like what the opposition wants. We can also drastically reduce the duties on cars like what the opposition wants. But in two years the Kelang Valley is going to revert to what it used to be in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

It will be like what it used to be in Bangkok before they built the Skytrain. You made appointments with a four-hour flexibility and you checked into a hotel near the airport the day before your flight so that you do not miss your flight (even for Bangkok residents).

In fact, when I first started working in 1972, we faced the same problem. We lived in Bangsar and worked in Jalan Ampang (near Kampung Baru) and we needed at least an hour to get to work. Kuala Lumpur was just one massive parking lot. I could cycle to work much faster but then how do you cycle to work in Malaysian weather?

I fear we cannot have it both ways. Those of you who used to live and/or work in the Kelang Valley in the 1970s and 1980s would know what we had to go through. We were so happy in the 1990s when they finally solved the problem by building new roads and highways even though we had to pay extra to use these roads and highways.

I dread a return to the days when cars were cheap and roads were free. You may save some money but you will certainly lose your mind by suffering road rage every time you walk out your door.

The government plus the opposition needs to look at this on a long-term basis and not respond to political pressure or make knee-jerk reactions. What you plan and decide now must work over the next 20 years and solve problems that we shall be facing in 2030 or 2035.

In 2030 or 2035, many of today’s screaming politicians will no longer be around, just like many of those politicians from the 1970s and 1980s are no longer around today.

You cannot plan just for today (or with a motive to become popular and win elections). You must plan for 2030 or 2035 but the work starts today. That is what a good government and a good opposition is all about.

Ultimately, we need to pay for goods and services. There is no escaping that just like there is no escaping death and taxes. The only thing is how do we pay and how much should we pay?

Of course, since we have plenty of oil and gas, then just use the profits from oil and gas to pay for everything and give everything free to the voters. True, this is one way of looking at it. But that only benefits us. What about the future generation — our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and so on? What about those who will be born in 2100 when you and I will all be dead? Should we not save some of that money for them rather than spend it all today so that we can enjoy first-world infrastructure at third-world prices or, worse, free-of-charge?

We have a moral duty to our descendants. And it is immoral to spend their money indiscriminately just so that we can have a better life while we care a damn about what Malaysians of 2100 are going to do once this money is finished.