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Railing or developer at fault over boy’s death?

I was shocked when I received the news that there had been yet another death that took place in PPR Kota Damansara where a five-year-old boy fell to his death from the sixth floor through a broken railing along the corridor. Is is not the first time this has happened as there had been a similar incident not more than two years ago where another five-year-old child fell to his death from the 14th floor, also through a broken railing.

I am very disturbed by the fact that even after a loss of life in 2013, the lesson was not learnt and action to ensure the safety of the residents living there was not given priority.

Who should take the responsibility for these two lives? Many of us will very quickly point our fingers at the parents for neglecting their children, allowing them to wander and play on the corridors of the PPR flats and not keeping their eyes on their own children, resulting in their death.

While I believe that the parents should bear some responsibility, it is very harsh and unfair to say they are fully responsible for the children’s death. I am sure it never crossed their mind to have their children fall off from the corridors of the building.

Who then is responsible? We are not here to play the blame game and start pointing fingers at each other. What is more important is to find out how we can resolve the problems and avoid a third life being taken away. We need to take one step back to see the root cause of the problem.

Were the parents at fault for assuming that the corridors in front of their homes are a safe place to play and the railings would not give way? Certainly not! If I was staying there, I would also assume that the railings are safe and secure and that I wouldn't fall off when I lean against it.

So, why did the railings give way and why was it not repaired immediately? Should the management of the PPR be responsible for this? Yes, to a certain degree. The management is responsible to maintain and repair the facilities of the entire PPR but they are always lacking in funds because they are not able to collect enough from the residents.

Should then the residents be blamed? The residents of these PPRs are mostly people living under the poverty line, struggling to put food on their tables for their families, what more to pay for rent and maintenance of the buildings. How can we blame them when the authorities took over their homes and land to develop into million-dollar bungalows while they were displaced into high-rise and high-density flats like the PPRs, which are the urban slums of today.

While the parents and both the management and residents of the PPR have some responsibility, we should not stop there. We should take another step back and trace back to the source of the problem.

Who built these PPRs, together with its railings? Who are the developers who were awarded these projects and hastily built these PPRs to accommodate the residents who were then shifted in before their land were taken over for bigger developments?

Did these developers meet the safety standards and provided a quality end-product? Why would these railing in the PPRs damage and give way so easily, causing the death of the two five-year olds? The developer who design and built this PPR has to take responsibility for what has happened. They should not be left off the hook so easily and there should be a thorough investigation.

However, the first step to prevent further accidents would be to bring the developer in to repair and reconstruct all the railings in the PPR. The Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government Ministry should step in to ensure the safety of all the PPRs around the country is assessed before there is a repeat of such a tragedy.

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