Abolish all highway tolls and remove all fuel subsidies

Murray Hunter


Abolish all highway tolls and remove all fuel subsidies


Sep 23, 2025






The implementation of Budi95 will have its issues and may even have to be pulled back in the near future. Budi95 is a seed-bed for the nurture of corruption.

It would have been better if the government kept its commitment to abolish all highway tolls, and remove all subsidies on fuel.

The government argument against removing tolls is that it would cost many billion Ringgit to pay off the concessionaires. However, most forget that most concessionaires are owned by GLCs anyway. All the government has to do is announce the end of tolls and “Nationalise” the tollways. Since the government indirectly owns the tollways, it will all be slight of hand, no money even has to change hands.

Consumers will pay more for petrol

Yes, consumers will pay more for petrol, but they won’t pay tolls. Many consumers will be much better off. The government will be much better off as all subsidies on fuel will disappear. That’s great for the budget and good for keeping government debt down.

Doesn’t the government want Malaysians to switch to EVs?

Removing subsidies on all ‘carbon based’ fuel and promoting electric vehicles is government policy. What a great way to incentivize moving to EVs. This could also be great for the economy, if EVs begin more local production/assembly. The government wants innovation.

There are of course some who can’t afford EVs. That is where a national safety net could help the needy (B20). With all the subsidies on fuel gone, funds can be diverted into helping the less well off in society. Budi95 does nothing to help the B20 or B40 for that matter. There is no higher tax-incidence of the T20. Budi95 is regressive and the T20 is basically not affected.

This is all commonsense economic policy. No need to worry about black-markets and corruption occurring through the Budi95 scheme. The toll albatross can be lifted from society and transport costs will be cheaper. The lifting of fuel subsidies is going to dramatically lighten payments of subsidies in future budgets. Subsidies represent a massive 20% of government expenditure. RM 36.9 billion paid out in 2024. The government has paid more than RM 20 billion in compensation to Tollway concessionaires over the last 5 years. These concessionaries are just sinkholes.

Its time to look for long-term people centric solutions. No tolls, no subsidies and more EVs will work.