Day 2 of the Commission of Inquiry into Menara Umno in Penang today questioned the role of a local authority if it does not check  whether building plans comply with rules and regulations.

The local authority involved here is the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP).

Commission chairperson Yeoh Yang Poh questioned the role of MPPP engineers if they merely relied on private consultants for  building calculations.

"For example, what is the use of a Commission if it does not question witnesses and just accepts submissions?" queried Yeoh, who is Commission chairperson and former Bar Council chairperson.

He was responding to the testimony by witness No. 4, MPPP engineering department deputy director A. Rajendran who said his engineers were responsible only for calculations on landscape, drainage, street lighting and thickness of pavement outside buildings.

For engineering calculations inside the building, Rajendran said "I cannot answer that. The (MPPP) building director Yew Tung Seang can answer".

At this point, the Commission decided to call Yew as witness for future sessions which will be on until end of November.

The building in question is the 21-storey Menara Umno along Jalan Macalister, where a 42- meter lightning arrestor - part of its design - fell during a violent storm which hit Penang on June 13, killing two.

One of the victims - 44 year old hawker Lim Chin Aik is believed to be buried underneath a crater created by the impact of the concrete and despite four days of digging, his body was never found.

Commisssion panel visits site

With Yeoh in the three-member panel are engineers Roslan Hashim and Gue See Sew, while conducting officer for the inquiry was lawyer Mureli Navaratnam, and Abdul Fareed Abdul Ghafoor appeared for Menara Umno building owner JKP Sdn Bhd .

Earlier, at 9am, the panel visited Menara Umno with journalists and photographers in tow.

They visited the top floor of the building and looked at the damages now covered by plastic tarpaulin.

penang commission of inquiry visits menara umno 1The panel arrived at the building accompanied by JKP's planning and development senior manager and engineer Samrulzaman K Mohideen amidst heavy wind, pouring rain and gloomy skies, slightly similar to the day in question.

Meanwhile, the Commission also heard of a lack of coordination among the various government departments in the aftermath of incident.

During the hearing, Yeoh suggested that for emergency situations, an experienced overall "commander" should be present to oversee the entire rescue and safety operations.

"This commander does not have to chair coordination meetings, but must be experienced in disaster management and be able to consult with other departments," said Yeoh.

He observed that it appears that during that time, there was no clear overall command for at least three days although each department had their own coordination.

Sixes and sevens in emergency

Yeoh said this after Rajendran admitted that an overall coordination meetings among various departments were arranged only three days after the incident.

Rajendran said that from June 16th onwards, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, MPPP president Pattahiyah Ismail and secretary Ang Aing Thye took turns to chair the coordination meetings of various departments heads, including the police and the fire department.

"For our own department, we had our own coordination but for everyone, there is none," said Rajendran who has served the MPPP for 27 years.

The Commission also decided to call as witness MPPP technician Omar Kassim who first viewed the CCTV recording on Friday morning but did not see the lightning arrestor crash onto a vehicle believed Chin Aik's.

Omar has been suspended from his duties pending investigations into his alleged failure to report the incident of the falling structure.

"He saw the CCTV in normal speed and did not detect the car being crushed by the falling concrete.

"Only on Saturday lunch time, one of our contractors (who manages MPPP's CCTVs) played the CCTV in slow motion and saw the structure fall on top of the car, after which he informed the police and fire department, " said Rajendran.

Rajendran said this when informing the Comission that the Council only knew about a missing person report by Friday night, after which the Council started digging into the crater.

By Saturday morning, the vehicle's number plate and chassis number were discovered, only then did MPPP viewed its CCTV recording.