‘It’s now Terengganu Darul Runtuh’

MP Raja Kamarul Bahrin laments the frequent collapse of buildings in the state.

KUALA LUMPUR: Terengganu deserves to be renamed Darul Runtuh (The Collapsing House), Kuala Terengganu MP Raja Kamarul Bahrin said today.

The PAS lawmaker’s indignant remark followed yesterday’s collapse of a hall at Kolej Universiti Tati, Kemaman. This was the third such incident in the state this year, following the collapse of mosques in Hulu Terengganu and Kampung Tebauk, Bukit Tunggal.

He said the frequent collapse of buildings signalled a collapse in morals in the state administration.

He criticised the state government for awarding projects to contractors with bad track records.

“I received information that the contractor who built the collapsed mosque in Kampung Tebauk was the same one who built a building that collapsed in 2009,” he said. “This is despite the menteri besar’s promise to blacklist contractors with bad track records.

“Now there is joke among people that one must wear a construction hat when entering a mosque for prayer because so many mosques have collapsed,” he said.

In 2009, the roof of the RM292.9 million Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium collapsed after soon after it was completed.

In October of the same year, the roof of the Masjid Kampung Batu Putih in Kerteh, Kemaman, collapsed, injuring three people.

Raja Kamarul said the string of similar incidents had prompted a local author to write a book titled “Terengganu Darul Runtuh”.