Najib under fire after wife fails to pay 2 AES traffic summonses

Rosmah Mansor, the controversial wife of embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak, has been caught red-handed! According to data from the Road Transport Department, the self-styled First Lady of Malaysia has not paid two traffic summonses issued under her husband's unpopular Automated Enforcement System.

"Lo and behold, we have been lucky. Her name popped out when we did our checks! It is a clear double standard when the wife of the PM doesn't pay the AES summonses. If the PM is so serious and confident that such a system is so good for road safety and for the public, he must ensure that every single one of the people closest to him must abide by AES," PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli told a press conference on Wednesday.

Deliberately left in limbo until GE13 is over?

The Najib administration had rolled out the privatized RM700 million AES project last September amid heavy criticism. Both the Opposition as well as the general public had accused him of corruption in the less-than-transparent deal with the two companies contracted to install and run the speed-trap camera system - Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd dan ATES Sdn Bhd.

However, despite the public outcry, Najib refused to budge. He has remained silent, with critics accusing him of deliberately leaving in limbo the highly unpopular project until after the general election and using conflicting statements from the Attorney-General's Chambers and the Transport Ministry to further confuse the people.

The AGC had in December said it would freeze prosecution of all unpaid AES summonses, while a few days later Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha made it clear the police will continue operating the controversial AES speed trap cameras. Since then, there has been no word from the Najib administration on whether the project would stay or be dropped.

"We (the Pakatan Rakyat Opposition) made it very clear AES will be abolished and so will the summonses issued so far. AES will be a remain a pertinent and major factor in the elections and BN should not remain silent. The implementation has been suspended because there are some outstanding issues. It is quite clear they (BN) are non committal and they are completely silent. That means it is going to be business as usual when they get to power," said Rafizi.

It's all about double standards and CORRUPTION

The AES system began in September 2012 with a pilot phase of 14 cameras, with the RTD pledging to roll out a total of 831 cameras by end-2013 to catch speeding motorists, which it claimed would help prevent more road deaths.

Critics, however, say the system is too error prone, with no avenue for victims to protest, the fines too heavy and the project rushed through so as to benefit the two firms Beta Tegap and ATES.

To back his claims, Rafizi handed out printouts from the Election Commission showing Rosmah's details, such as her identity card number, and from the Road Transport Department, a summary of the summonses issued to one Rosmah Binti Mansor which carried the same I.C. number as in the EC's printout.

The summonses costing RM300 each were issued to the same car. The first offense was recorded on Jan 27, 2013 at 16:49:36 hours along Km 1.6, Lebuh Sentosa and the other on Mar 3, 2013 at 20:08:48 hours also along Lebuh Sentosa.

"Obviously, we all know Datin Rosmah has many cars. We will see how she will respond. But to me, this is about double standards. If you want to bring politics to a higher level, this is not such a small matter at all.

"There's always been 2 Malaysias. One applicable to the rest of the country. The other applicable and enjoyed by the privileged and connected cronies close to the political thieves. The fight against corruption has always been like that. If you steal one steal one box of formulated milk, you will be jailed for one year. But corruption of RM600 to 700 million, the case will be postponed and in the end the guilty escapes and and the government drops the case."

No confidence in Najib, waiting for PR to win and scrap the fines?

Indeed, Rosmah's latest scrape is unlikely to endear her to the people. Already disliked for her brash ways, she is also distrusted because of her love and pursuit of the ultra-lavish lifestyle. Her shopping sprees in the world's costliest cities are legendary and she is notorious for her scandals over a RM24 million diamond ring and a huge collection of Birkin bags.

Yet she cannot pay up her RM600 fines, questioned Rafizi, and this from a system her husband has insisted on foisting on the people allegedly to benefit his business cronies?

The fast-rising PKR leader called on Najib to make clear what was now the status of the AES. Would it be scrapped or would it be resumed once the elections were over?

Taking aim at Rosmah, Rafizi also asked if her refusal to pay the fines was an indication that she had no confidence in her husband's ability to win the May 5 general election.

"How a small elite group connected to the political elite is sheltered from all these is actually a a big issue which should be presented to the public to make their choices. For that reason, I call on Prime Minister Najib Razak to clarify to the public whether or not the BN will continue to implement the AES if they win the general election. When I saw AES summonses that Datin Rosmah had left unpaid, I thought Datin Rosmah was not confident BN would win and was waiting for PR to cancel the summonses!"



-Malaysia Chronicle