MIC today called on the government to do away with the practice of requiring parents to sign consent forms and liability waivers for extra-curricular activities involving their children.

MIC secretary general interview s murugesan 170909 02 Speaking at a press conference at the MIC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, party secretary-general S Murugesan (right) said this would force those responsible for conducting such activities to consider all safety aspects and risk factors, as they would be accountable for the students' lives and safety.

"Safety must always be first, especially when the lives of children are concerned," he added.

He reasoned that the same standards of safety and burden of responsibility must be maintained by authorities for activities off school grounds just like during normal activities conducted on school grounds, within school hours.

Murugesan also questioned the practice of using students to make up the numbers at government events.

Citing the recent Kampar tragedy as an example, he asked, "Why are standard five pupils present at the 1Malaysia camp when it was not compulsory for them?"

Last week, three pupils perished when they were swept away by strong currents after a cable bridge collapsed during the camp.

Murugesan also pointed out certain irregularities in the way the 1Malaysia camp was conducted, which he claimed needs to be looked into:

1. Why were the students crossing the bridge at night?

2. Why were they not wearing life jackets, which is standard practice for conducting all activities involving or near to water?

3. Were any insurance policies taken by the 1Malaysia camp organisers? Murugesan revealed that there is a government circular requiring insurance policies for all outdoor activities.

‘Proper compensation'

He also urged the Education Ministry to consider awarding proper compensation to the family of the affected students.

While he understood that the ministry had already given some RM10,000 as a token sum, he said, "That is just a token amount, they should give something more substantial".

NONE This, he said, does not only mean families who have lost their children, but also the families of other pupils who were involved in the tragedy.

"The students went through a traumatic experience and it would take help and much effort for them to come back to living as a normal person," he explained.

He also chided those who blamed the playful behaviour of students as being a contributing factor in the Kampar incident.

"Kids will always be kids, this must always be taken into consideration when planning and conducting outdoor activities for them. Precautions must be taken beforehand," he said.

However, when asked whether the authorities responsible for conducting the camp be held responsible for the tragedy, he replied, "That is a matter for the lawyers to decide, we should instead focus being more careful when planning such activities in the future."

Lessons learned

On a related matter, the MIC secretary-general also called upon authorities to look into the safety standards of carnivals and amusement parks.

While this has nothing to do with the Kampar incident, he said that the lessons learned there could be applied in ensuring that carnivals maintain a high level of safety standards.

"Let us not wait for more lives to be lost before we take action," he added.