Dare the authorities take the blame?

The latest bus accident where 37 people lost their lives should be enough to spur the government to get serious about putting an end to such disasters

COMMENT

When one of the three blocks of the Highland Towers apartments came crashing down 20 years ago killing 48 people, it sparked a furore over who was to be blamed and the do’s and don’ts concerning hillside development. That a building could collapse in Malaysia shocked the government-of-the-day who swore to put an end to all hillside developments.

But then corruption always had an ugly way of making its presence felt in the country, which explains yet another hillside tragedy, the December 2008 Bukit Antarabangsa (a short distance from the Highland Towers apartments) landslide which left four dead.

Whatever happened to all the talk about wanting to halt hillside constructions and prevent more hills from being cleared for development? The government under BN did what it knew best – react in a knee-jerk manner to assuage an angry rakyat, hoping that with time the tragedy would be forgotten.

It is this very ‘tak kisah’ attitude by the government that is to be blamed for its spur of the moment action that is full of false assurance instead of preventing more calamities from happening.

On Aug 21, 2013, yet another mishap – this time 37 passengers of an overloaded tour express bus were killed when the vehicle on its way down from the mountain resort of Genting Highlands nose-dived 70 metres down a ravine after its driver lost control of the bus near the Chin Swee Temple.

Instead of the 44-passenger capacity, the bus had 53 people inside with more than half of them from China, Bangladesh and Thailand. A tragedy – yes and no, given the fact that it could have been averted had the blacklisted bus been off the road.

The Star had reported that checks on the Road Transport Department (RTD) website revealed the bus was not ‘road worthy’ and blacklisted. But then the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) chief Syed Hamid Albar begged to differ saying the bus was neither blacklisted nor was it overloaded.

He said the ill-fated bus was classified as a feeder bus and had the capacity of ferrying 65 passengers, with 45 seated and 20 standing. That being so, how is it that the RTD website has information declaring the bus as ‘unfit’ for use? Now, whom should the rakyat trust, SPAD or RTD?

If however the bus has been declared ‘unfit’ by the authority, how was it that it was doing ‘business as usual’? The Aug 21 bush accident has been deemed the worst in the country. But then road casualties involving express buses are not new to Malaysia.

Families want answers

The previous record for the highest fatalities was on Dec 20, 2010 when another express bus, on its way down Cameron Highlands, hit a divider and overturned, killing 27 onboard, including the driver. A year before that, 10 people died on Dec 26 when the north-bound bus they were in crashed into a guardrail at the Ipoh toll plaza.

Another 10 died on Dec 7, 2008 when an express bus skidded and overturned in Pagoh, Johor. Another incident with high fatalities happened on Aug 13, 2007 when 22 people died when an express bus they were travelling in crashed near the Bukit Gantang rest area on the North-South Expressway.

More recently, a teacher and three students were killed on Nov 11, 2011 when their chartered bus collided with a tanker while they were on their way up Genting Highlands from Kulim, Kedah. Why is it that the federal government has done nothing to prevent fatalities involving express buses in particular from recurring?

Is it wrong to conclude that that the BN government does not view such catastrophes seriously? There is no saying when the next disaster involving another express bus might occur. Instead of pointing accusing fingers at bus drivers and hauling them to court, does the government have the gumption to claim responsibility for the country’s calamitous road horrors?

In case the government of the day subscribes to ‘this too shall pass’ adage when dealing with tragedies, it better rethink its stand. The families’ of the dead in the Aug 21 disaster want answers. Can the government explain why the express bus concerned was on the road? Has the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board not learnt lessons from the previous road tragedies involving public transport?

Are express bus operators not compelled by Puspakom to get their buses inspected on a regular basis? The latest accident has also opened up a can of worms – if the Road Transport Department had deemed the express bus ‘not roadworthy’ how is it that the bus company, the Kuala Lumpur-based Genting Highlands Transport Sdn Bhd dare use the bus to ferry passengers?

What does it say – that enforcement is slacking or someone in RTD or the ‘higher up’ is on the take from the bus company in question?

It’s truly unfortunate that while the ‘powers that be’ squabble over issues like the controversial Automated Enforcement System (AES) or plans to revoke the licenses of 1.7 million Malaysians with unpaid summonses, no attention has been paid on ways to avert yet another disaster when families end up losing their loved ones to road tragedies simply because the government is busy pettifogging.

The Aug 21 nightmare has left 37 dead, 13 of them women and 24 men. Another 16 who survived are fighting for their lives – is this not tragic enough for the BN government to finally get serious about putting an end to such disasters?

Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.