OCT 21 — Penang CM says heavy rains may have triggered landslides”. My foot!
I am ashamed of my chief minister who is using his intelligence to pacify Penangites by twisting words to put the blame on Godor what clearly is human failure under his guard.
Surely he is not a naive schoolboy not to know or understand why the tragedies occurred.
The two incidents at the road construction site over the hills are not only the results of ego and greed, but also reek of incompetency, dereliction of duty, and possibly corruption as well.
First a battery of 14 reinforced concrete beams each 25 meters long and 1.2m high and weighing about 20 - 30- tons, broke like biscuits upon falling to the ground. A lot of steel is used to make the skeletons of these beams which are then placed in formwork and filled with specially mixed concrete. They are left standing on the casting site for a month or more for the concrete to cure before being taken to the construction site and lifted into place.
Could experts confirm that even if there was sufficient steel of the proper grade and the right mix of concrete used, the beams would still have broken like biscuits. Thank God that this incident happened before the bridge was put into use.
Just days later, tons of earth from the barren hillsides at the same site came rolling down to bury a number of workers.
And my Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has the audacity to coolly say that “ heavy rains may have triggered the landslides”. This is not only insensitive to the victims but also most irresponsible of a head of government which claims to be practicing CAT - Competency, Accountability and Transparency in the administration of the State.
It has been reported that not a single construction site in Penang followed the soil erosion mitigation plans. However, the way the chief minister put it, he expected God to keep the rains away from the construction areas.
Even an unschooled person familiar with hillsides and the weather could tell you that if you remove all vegetation from large swaths of the slopes and leave them exposed to the rain, you are looking for serious trouble. There have been numerous cases to learn a lesson from, but he feigns ignorance.
“Experts” are supposed to be in charge of the planning and execution of the works on fragile hill slopes. Other “experts” are supposed to be double checking the works at the site and not “monitoring” from the comfort of their air-conditioned offices.
How did construction “experts” plan this project?
How did environmental “experts” approve this project?
How did the government agencies responsible for monitoring the construction works not see that large areas of the hill slopes were cut, mutilated, and left exposed to the weather?
Why did the “experts” think that rains will not cause the barren earth on the slopes to be washed down?
The Minister of Works announced that action will be taken against the developer if he is at fault. Why against the developer alone who was “allowed” by the various authorities to do the kind of shoddy work he did with impunity? Those others are more guilty than the contractor.
Isn’t it strange that after the tragedy the Mineral and Geoscience Department experts found a hill stream flowing in the disaster area? Why was this not seen by any other experts before the tragedy?
Where was DOSH all this while? After the tragedy it springs into action and issues a stop work order, which the developer ignores! Is it not its function to make surprise checks (un-announced before hand) at construction sites? DOSH must bear full responsibility for dereliction of duty. Will any heads roll? No. It will answer “we cannot have our officers stationed at every construction site everyday”. This shows a dire lack of creativity in enforcement work.
In the 1950’s the motto “Penang leads” meant it used to lead in the fields of Education, sports, cultural activities, etc.
Today, “Penang leads” in creating man-made disasters, incompetency in construction works, in lackadaisical enforcement of laws pertaining to construction, especially on hill slopes onto which developers are moving due to shortage of flat land. Penang also leads in expertise in blaming God for rain over construction sites.
I really cannot accept that Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow is prepared to pawn his integrity to safeguard developers. Otherwise why the statement that “heavy rains may have triggered landslides”.
The government does not tire of “assuring” Penangites that experts in various aspects of development and construction works have done their studies and calculations to ensure no untoward incidents happen. Then, what can be concluded from the disasters that still happen is that these “experts” are not worth their salt.
Finally, it is the State government that has to bear overall accountability for all these disasters. What happens to its CAT (Competency, Accountability, Transparency) when disasters like this happen? It goes under the table.
Dear chief minister Chow, will you still say “heavy rains may have triggered landslides” if those buried alive were from your family circle? Have some decency, please, and don’t fool Penangites. We don’t need this kind of development. And don’t tell us arrogantly that your party won the elections by a huge majority. That was because we wanted the corrupted BN out at all cost. It was not a blank cheque for you to bulldoze projects that help developers and to boost your own and your party’s ego.
*This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
