Bkt
Gantang Tragedy: What will it take to stop carnage?

   Tragedy happens, and it will continue to happen. Despite all
the hard work and safety measures we take every time we go out, nothing can
stop our destiny, the act of God the Almighty. But with all the power of God,
we cannot simply say "It is the destiny" without trying and hoping
for the best first of all. Blessed with the single most powerful thing in the
universe, the BRAIN, it is up to us to use it, whether for the good or for the
bad.

   Back to the hot topic of the week, the question that I really
wanted to ask the ‘relevant authorities’ is, like the above header suggests,
"What’s next?” Don’t even ask about "How can it happen?", or
"Why this s**t keep on happening?” My bet is that you’ll get the same lame
answer from the ‘relevant authorities’. According to the New Straits Times
online newspaper from the link above, a handful of recommendations has been put
forth after every bus accident since the 2003 tragedy (Kuala Lipis
bus crash (2003): 14 killed, 26 injured). These area facts, not theories
that I’m happily write here to ‘flame’ the ‘relevant authorities’ or the rakyat
(remember, the election is near, so use that word more frequently will ya’?)

    Taken from the same link as above:

Kuala Lipis bus crash (2003): 14 killed, 26 injured
1. Recommendation: Send drivers for refresher course. Status: Not implemented.
2. Recommendation: Two drivers in each express bus. Status: Implemented but
poorly monitored.
3. Recommendation: Punish bad drivers with higher insurance premiums. Status:
Not implemented.
4. Recommendation: Drivers to undergo medical check-ups once every six months.
Status: Implemented but carried out once a year due to high cost.
5. Recommendation: Suspend bus operator’s permit if driver found to have caused
an accident. Status: Partially implemented. Several bus drivers were suspended.
6. Recommendation: Drivers and passengers to fill in a report on the problems
they faced. Status: Implemented for several months but discontinued.
7. Recommendation: Drivers not to drive for more than eight hours continuously.
Status: Implemented but poorly monitored.
8. Recommendation: New guidelines for commercial vehicle drivers. Status:
Implemented: Second driver introduced, drivers allowed maximum journey of eight
hours and rest every two hours.

Nibong Tebal bus crash (July 2006): 11 killed, 35 injured on their way to
St Anne’s Feast
1. Recommendation: Drivers to undergo mandatory refresher courses once every
three years. Status: Not implemented.
2. Recommendation: Special centers to be set up nationwide to train drivers.
Status: Not done as refresher course programme was still pending.

Recommendations after the Bukit Gantang crash (

Aug 13, 2007

): 20 killed, 9
injured
1. Drivers to undergo mandatory refresher course.
2. Tighten rules for drivers and implement same checks as carried out on
airline pilots.
3. Safety briefing for passengers before journey begins. Just like in planes.
4. Build railway tracks to connect more towns. Rail travel is safer.
5. All passengers to wear safety belts.
6. Drivers must be in good mental and physical health.
7. Drivers not to drive continuously for eight hours.
8. All highways and expressways to be lit up.
9. Improve quality of locally assembled buses.
10. Hiring more foreign drivers.

   From the above summary by the newspaper, I can say about 80% of
the recommendations were not implemented AT ALL, not to mention some of
it  were poorly implemented or poorly monitored. From today’s New
Straits Times frontpage, the IGP of PDRM claims that the bus has
before Failed the Puspakom Brake Test 3 times!! What a shocking fact it
is!! Well, not so shocking for some of us. I don’t want to make ‘false’
accusations about those ‘relevant parties’ even though that is what many of us
believe, but the facts speak for themselves. To add insult to injury:

1. the driver had 13 summonses and two arrest warrants dating back to 2002.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Wednesday/Frontpage/20070815073706/Article/index_html
2. The bus had 19 summonses since 1991
http://www.bharian.com.my/m/BHarian/Wednesday/Mukadepan/20070815001945/Article/

   These are serious traffic offense and warrant a full detailed
inquiry into the incident. If they say a detailed inquiry requires millions of
‘tax-payer’s money’, so be it. This is about human lives, not ‘another’ Botanical
Garden or corridor of this world. ‘They’ had enough of their ‘duit
kopi’ and this is the time for a hard, thorough work, for the benefit of the
people. But even if the inquiry has been completed and the so-called ‘person
responsible’ been brought to justice, or the very strict recommendation
been passed to exercise, can it prevent this kind of tragedy from happening
again? Will the recommendations being implemented successfully, and more
important, "How long will it sustain before it fades away from the memory
of the rakyat, just like the unfortunate 20 on that fateful day?”

   Destiny is in the hand of God,
but it is us who plans to make it… 

   Please don’t treat it like just
another accident, this is a national tragedy. Please don’t kill more lives
for the sake of your (wealthy) life.

ridhuan.abubakar2007