COMMENT Too many work-related accidents have happened in the past six months involving both work and public safety.

The tragic thing is that Human Resources Minister Richard Riot Jaem is hardly in the forefront to push for greater work safety, unlike his predecessor, Lim Ah Lek.

Yes, most people would remember Lim and Dr Fong Chan Onn, who succeeded Lim, but I believe if a quiz question were to be asked, no one would be able to answer this simple question: “Who is the human resources minister of Malaysia?”

When I did a search for Richard Riot, what popped up was Richard Riot, a riot that took place on March 17, 1955, and named after Maurice Richard, the star ice hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL).

To be fair to the minister, I searched for Richard Riot Malaysia. Even then, I could only find a few references to Richard Riot Jaem, but almost nothing about work and public safety.

Despite writing to him about an accident involving the late 86-year-old Yong Chee Seng, principal of Methodist Boys Kuala Lumpur, whose car plunged into a 40-feet deep sewerage hole, he has not even responded to explain the outcome of the investigation carried out by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), or whether there was an investigation in the first place.

It has been more than a month, there is still no conclusion to the investigation. And we are not aware whether the contractor concerned has been charged with negligence in public safety. It is not only Yong’s case, but a number of other major cases involving crane collapse, and even deaths of workers, where there was lack of ministerial intervention to prevent the recurrence of such accidents.

With cases involving the death of workers and members of the public, the minister’s lack of leadership is indeed alarming. So, it is not only scandals but apathy that is plaguing Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s cabinet.

When Najib first took over the premiership from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, there was a lot of fluff with his grand Government Transformation Plan. Ministers are supposed to have their key performance indicators (KPI).

My question is: Have the ministers achieved their KPI? In the case of Riot, has his alleged lack of interest in work and public safety earned him at least a satisfactory level in the KPI?

In the past, Lim was a great promoter of work safety. He was everywhere to be seen whenever there was an event on work safety. I was with him on one occasion in Genting Highlands, and I could see how serious he was when he talked about work safety.

Accidents happen, but where is the leadership?

Just yesterday, a bus driver cheated death when a crane from the construction site near Jalan Titiwangsa collapsed and nearly crushed the bus he was driving.

Had it been worse, all the passengers in the bus could have been crushed to death. Why do we have to wait till another major disaster before everyone starts scurrying around, blaming each other?

Why is the minister not providing leadership in such cases, especially those involving deaths, whether locals or foreigners? Why is Riot keeping silent in most cases? Is DOSH no longer under his ministry’s purview?

If yes, whose ministry is DOSH under now? Traditionally, DOSH has always been under the Human Resources Ministry. Unless DOSH carries out an investigation and finds the contractor concerned at fault, the other parties cannot do much.

I cannot understand why, despite Lee Lam Thye, in his capacity as chairperson of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), writing about it in the New Straits Times, the minister has apparently not taken any notice at all. He has been keeping very silent about the tragic accident which took away the life of one octogenarian who has contributed to nationhood.

In the case of the late Yong, a particular minister had indicated to me via e-mail that DOSH is the party that should be carrying out investigations into work-related accidents. Thereafter, the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and other parties will be able to follow up on its actions.

What baffles me more

What baffles me is that when I googled for Richard Riot Malaysia, a page came on that places him as the deputy foreign affairs minister.

From another source, I read that Riot has been the Human Resources Minister since May 16, 2013. Therefore, how can this one person fill two positions at the same time? Imagine someone who is trying to find out what position Riot fills, he would be surprised to read that Riot is the deputy foreign affairs minister.

It took a while before I realised that the page on Foreign Affairs Ministry is part of the history section of the website. If so, could the text not have been at least revised to say that he was a former deputy minister with the dates he joined and left the ministry?

Why can’t our ministry officials be more vigilant with the information it provides to the whole wide world? For now, I hope Riot will not run riot over my comments. I have to call a spade a spade, especially when I see no action being taken.

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