The former prime minister questioned where the funds would come from to repair the highways, if not from tolls.

“They (previously) claimed that they will abolish tolls. This time around, they are still promising to do the same.

“I don’t believe the people will support them because they know that the country needs tolls,” the Pejuang chairman said at a GTA event here.

He said there were other pledges in the 2018 general election manifesto which could not be fulfilled, including abolishing the mandatory death penalty.

He said this required the support of two-thirds of MPs in the Dewan Rakyat.

On Monday, DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng pledged that PH would abolish tolls on the PLUS North-South Expressway if it wins GE15 and forms the next federal government.

At a pre-GE15 campaign dinner in Jelapang, Perak, Lim said PH had reduced the toll rates for the highways by 18% when it was in power for 22 months.

According to China Press, the former finance minister said PH “can abolish tolls” on the highways if it gets another five years in government.

Lim had been quoted as making a similar pledge in 2017, before PH’s historic win on May 9, 2018.

The abolition of tolls on highways was among the coalition’s pledges for the 2018 general election, with PH saying it would be done “in stages”.

In 2020, the then PH government implemented an 18% reduction in toll rates at the highways, saying it was in line with its manifesto.