MP SPEAKS This parliament session is ending next Thursday (April 10), once again without sign of the report of the independent advisory panel to the Minister of Transport on the August 21, 2013 bus crash at KM3.6 Genting Highlands-Kuala Lumpur road ('the Genting crash report').
I call upon Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to present the Genting crash report during the Parliament sitting for a full debate by MPs.
This is to allow the Transport Ministry and the cabinet to implement proposals of the independent panel to address the institutional and systemic failures that resulted in the crash, as well as take to task those named or implicated in the report.
The Genting tragedy was the deadliest vehicle accident in the nation’s history, recording 37 deaths and 16 injuries.
During the seven months after the Genting tragedy, there have been at least 12 bus accidents nationwide, in which 13 people perished and 76 were injured - including 23 who were seriously injured
These statistics are alarming and completely unacceptable, particularly since buses are the most frequently-used mode of transportation in the country.
The tragic track record underlines the fact that our public transportation safety level is not satisfactory, a point I have raised before.
Don't sweep under carpet
I had previously called for the establishment of a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to look into the matter, as the Genting crash must not be allowed to be another “act of God, no human cause” tragedy.
In July 1988, when the Penang's Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal bridge collapse happened, a RCI chaired by Chang Min Tat was commissioned. There were 32 deaths in that incident. The Genting crash took the lives of 37 persons.
In lieu of a RCI to investigate the Genting crash, I commend the independent advisory panel led by Lee Lam Thye for its efforts. The panel’s report was written professionally and was frank in its assessment of the state of road safety nationally.
The panel concluded that it is “deeply concerned that many issues are institutional and system-based, giving rise to the possibility that the problems are not isolated cases, but instead are the norms for the country.”
I am disturbed by the minister’s rather weak response to the report. The only proposal of the independent panel that was adopted by the Ministry was to establish a National Transport Safety Board.
While that may be a good move, the Ministry must not see the act of setting up a new agency as a silver bullet and continue to sweep the current malaise under the carpet.
Before the opening of this parliament session on March 7, I had called on the minister to present the report during the Parliament sitting for a full debate by MPs. I reiterate the call again before the Parliament session ends.
LIEW CHIN TONG is DAP national political education director and MP for Kluang.
