SHAH ALAM, 24 Nov: The state government has been urged to charge foreigners for the free bus services which will be implemented soon.
The Assemblyman for Sekinchan, Ng Suee Lim, said that the move should be implemented to avoid free bus services to be misused by foreigners.
He said that the collection of fees from foreigners can also be used for the maintenance of the buses and it is fair to the local people.
“Foreigners should be charged in order to prioritise the rights of the local people and at the same time, the fare can be used for maintenance purposes,” he said when contacted by Selangor Kini today.
Suee Lim said that although there are allegations saying the free public bus services provides advantages to foreigners, the initiative should also be implemented for the local people as a state government that is caring and responsible.
“As a responsible and caring government, Selangor will still take care of the people no matter if the amount of people who use buses are a lot or otherwise,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Assemblyman for Sri Muda, Shuhaimi Shafiei, said that the state government should review steps to set rules for the free public bus services for foreigners for the convenience of the locals.
“Maybe certain conditions can be imposed and it is not wrong to be provided free because foreigners are also taxpayers.
“We need to realise that not all places have many foreigners. So this matter should be balanced and we cannot exclude them because this group is also a contributor to the state’s economy,” he said.
At the recent Selangor State Assembly (DNS) session, the state government agreed to provide free public bus services and the implementation of the services will be extended to rural areas as well as suburbs, if the demand in such locations increases.
