The first challenge for the newly minted Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai should be to lasso the Land Public Transport Commission (Spad) into the ministry’s control, said Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong.

“The Malaysian cabinet is a weird creature: that the transport minister has entirely no say over public transport is mind boggling…

“Spad is not part of the transport ministry but part of the already bloated Prime Minister's Department. And strangely, passenger rail transport is being carved out from the transport ministry,” he said in a statement yesterday.

As a stop-gap measure, he said the ministry of  transport’s (MOT) chief secretary could be appointed as a Spad commissioner.

Liew ( right ) pointed out that Spad’s current line up comprises seven commissioners that includes the chief secretary of the Works Ministry and several businesspersons, but no (MOT) representative.

“It is ridiculous that MOT has no role to play in governing public transport,” he said.

In a separate statement today, Liew said Liow should also lobby for a seat in the economic council too, which he dubbed as the “real cabinet”. Other BN leaders should do so as well, he said.

“Today, most major economic decisions are made at the economic council (EC), which usually meets on Monday, with cabinet “rubber-stamping” the EC decisions on its Wednesday meetings.

“The cabinet no longer deliberates on economic matters,” he said.

He said the 12-member economic council currently includes the Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin, Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Wahid Omar and Idris Jala, Finance Minister II Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah, International Trade and Industry Mustapa Mohamed, Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, and several other senior civil servants.

Liew said he had raised the same issue in 2010, after which then MCA president Chua Soi Lek was appointed into the council, and he expects Liow as Chua’s successor to do the same.

“But for the long-term good of the nation, all key political leaders in the governing coalition from Gerakan, MIC, PBB, PBS, PBRS, PRS, SUPP and UPKO should all be included in the deliberation of economic matters at the cabinet level.

“It’s time for the prime minister to reorganise the cabinet to include all voices in the deliberations of the real issues,” he said.

He suggested that Najib adopt DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang’s suggestion of a 20-person cabinet to govern collectively on all matters including economic matters, while the rest of the junior ministers would report to the cabinet ministers.

On another matter, Liew yesterday urged Spad to make public the Engineer’s Opinion on the condition of the railway tracks on the East Coast, following its  decision to close the Gemas-Gua Musang line for repairs.

By law, he said, an Engineer’s Opinion is required to declare railways unsafe.

12 derailments

The two-year closure was supposed to take effect yesterday, but was postponed to Aug 15 resulting from threats of protests from the Railwaymen’s Union of Malaya and to allow travellers to use it during the Ramadan period .

However, Spad lay down several conditions, including that the trains observe a lower speed limit.

According to Spad, there had been 12 derailments in the East Coast since 2012.

Liew said it is “inconceivable” that the tracks had deteriorated to the extent warranting total closure, since it had been in used for many decades.

“For more than 80 years since 1931, trains from Gemas to Tumpat have been running uninterrupted except during the Second World War under Japanese Occupation.

“Although the route passes through dense jungle where communist insurgents launched attacks and sabotages in the 1950s, KTMB (Keratapi Tanah Melayu Bhd) continued to run their trains,” he said.