COMMENT Although we all have to call it a day when the time is up for us to leave this world, the demise of Yong Chee Seng (1930-2016) will certainly be missed by thousands of former students of Methodist Boys School Kuala Lumpur (MBSKL).

Out of honour for this towering Malaysian, I shall depart from the conventional journalistic tradition, by referring to him as Mr Yong, a name that has become so very dear to many of us. When news broke in the social media, many had expressed their sadness over his death at past midnight yesterday.

The 86-year-old Mr Yong has endeared himself to many students throughout his 35-year career with the school located at Jalan Davidson, Kuala Lumpur. Prior to that, he was a teacher at the Methodist English School in Tanjung Malim, Perak, in 1950.

Educationist par excellence

The school, and in fact, the nation, has lost a great educator who dedicated the largest part of his life to provide an honest and good education to young generations of Malaysians.

MrYong himself was a student of the Methodist education system; therefore, his appointment as the education secretary of the Methodist Board of Education in 1995 came as no surprise to many of us, after he retired as principal of MBSKL.

He was always active within the Methodist circle, and an educationist par excellence. For a fellow Selangorian like him, who deserves a posthumous datukship, Mr Yong was always a humble man, approachable to all his boys, including the naughty ones.

Although I had personally volunteered to put together his biography in order to preserve the legacy of the man himself - and I remember telling him, an important personality in a part of our Malaysian history - Mr Yong would not be persuaded, despite my persistence and even to the extent of insistence.

Even with me trying to convince the late Mrs Yong to persuade him, Mr Yong’s only explanation was, “Stephen, I am only a humble man. I am nobody.” Now, a son of the soil is gone forever. But those of us who know him are assured that someday we will be meeting him face to face again.

My own experience

Altruistic. Caring. And an extremely careful driver. This is how I would describe him. On my trip back from a chapel retreat at Fraser’s Hill, he made such an impression on me that he was such a careful driver and always abiding by the traffic rules. When I was sick during the retreat, he was like a father to me.

But one outstanding thing about Mr Yong is his motto: Service above self, and his belief that knowledge can make a difference in our lives. He was genuinely very concerned when he saw my academic performance dropping in Form Five, from being the number one student to some number beyond 20, and he quickly took me aside for a brief counselling session.

As past alumni president Teo Chiang Quan puts it: “Past and present students, our school community, his family, relatives and friends are saddened by the death of Mr Yong Chee Seng. He had certainly wanted his students to fear the Lord and gain knowledge.”

Quoting Proverbs 1:7, Teo, who is also chairperson and executive director of Paramount Corporation Berhad, says: “We learnt from him that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Another alumni, Dr Ho Shu Nam, who was probably the last MBS old boy who met Mr Yong when he was back at the University Hospital for his physical check-ups on Saturday, says at about 2pm, he was still his feisty self, though very weak and tired.

Dr Ho’s last question to him was: “How is it that you could be a walking reference book on who’s who in MBS? You seem to know how different people are related to each other, or even what they sell or work for a living.”

His answer was: “Dr Ho, I was in MBS for 35 years with an interruption of three years at Universiti Malaya and one year in Kirby. As a teacher supervisor, senior assistant and principal, I get to interact with so many people at so many stages of their lives.”

As I read Dr Ho’s email, tears roll down my cheeks, and as if still listening to Mr Yong’s final words to Dr Ho: “I felt so blessed to have so many concerned MBSians visiting, calling and sending messages.” This was after his tragic accident which hit the news.

To this, Dr Ho echoed what many of us would have responded, in reply: “Mr Yong, being who you are, and since you can remember so many of us as well as our names, and you have been a great help to us, how is it that we would not be naturally concerned when we heard about your accident?”

An accident that should not have happened

The tragic accident which happened to Mr Yong and his maid has indeed shocked the nation, on why and how a sewerage pit as deep as 12 metres could be left uncovered on a public road.

On that fateful day of May 3, at about 1.30pm, Mr Yong’s car took a nose-dive into the pit after hitting the plastic barricade to avoid another vehicle at Jalan Universiti in front of Sin Chew.

According to feedback that I received, the site was only manned by a few Bangladeshi workers. The supervisor was also a Bangladeshi. When the accident happened, there was no proper cordon around the worksite. It was allegedly sheer negligence on the part of the contractor.

The project is part of a three-package federal project under the Sewerage Services Department (JPP) to modernise the sewer network for congested areas and locations.

It is believed that the contractors on-site had been negligent in managing public safety. On further checks by my fellow school mates from Class of 1981 (Form Five), despite the amount of publicity that Mr Yong’s accident had attracted, two other locations were sighted with the same sewerage pits on May 6 still left uncovered.

I was told that the project at the junction of Jalan Pandan Aman/ Jalan Ampang is handled by another contractor. The fact that the sewerage pit was located near a primary and a secondary school was alarming enough for us as we discussed on our WhatsApp chat forum.

“What if some curious primary school boys decided that they would check out whether there is fish to be caught in the pit, what would happen, if one of them fell right into the pit?” As of Saturday, my ex-schoolmate replied: “Work is still being done on and off at the site. Hole is still not covered.”

Another similar pit was sighted along Jalan Bukit Belimbing (near Mines and Balakong Industrial Estate) which was covered immediately after a complaint was lodged and the local authorities visited the site.

My question is, why do we not hear of any stern action against contractors and sub-contractors who fail in implementing safety measures, risking public safety and the lives of the people? An entire concrete girder, for example, could collapse, killing a number of foreign workers, not to mention part of the Terengganu stadium, or a temporary structure of a building under construction could collapse.

Why are the simple safety procedures not followed? After the accident had happened, has proper investigations, for example, been carried out by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health and other relevant authorities? After proper investigations have been carried out, are these contractors being charged or let off with just a warning and a slap on the wrist?

Why should we allow public safety to be compromised, when such ‘backyard’ contractors spoil the image of the country? What is the point of having so many federal agencies if their job is not to monitor the errant contractors?

It could be you

Although I must say it was truly a miracle for both Mr Yong and the maid to have survived the accident. it should never have happened.

Mr Yong was discharged shortly after some physical inspection, with a promise that he would return to the hospital for further checks a week later.

Sadly, Mr Yong succumbed to death. It could be due to the internal injuries or the trauma that he experienced, but such a tragic accident could happen to any of us if we allow our contractors to continue with poor work culture.

The trauma that Mr Yong experienced was simply unnecessary had our contractors taken the necessary precautions and our government punished the errant contractors heavily. My question is, why are the ‘world class’ contractors that we boast so much about still so lackadaisical towards both occupational and public safety?

It appears to me that we have turned it into our lackadaisical culture; after all, errant contractors can still allegedly buy their way out, don’t you think so?

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.