Bribery kills

Read the letter from Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye to The Star.

Transport tragedies can affect tourist arrivals

A WEEK ago tragedy struck when a bus ferrying tourists hit a divider and overturned on its way down from Cameron Highlands resulting in 28 deaths, all but two of whom were Thai nationals.

And now another tragedy has taken place – this time involving a boat carrying about 30 holiday makers which capsized while heading to the Tanjung Laman jetty from a fishing platform in Pulau Sibu near Mersing.

Three Singaporeans died while another two are missing according to the authorities involved in rescue operations.

What was shocking and unacceptable was the fact that initial investigation revealed that the boat was carrying more than the permitted 12 passengers and no one on board had a life jacket on.

Safety has taken another severe blow and this has serious implication not only for public safety but also our tourism industry.

These tragedies can give rise to the perception that holidaying in Malaysia is not safe.

It is hard to imagine how the boat operator had failed to comply with a basic safety requirement.

All this goes to show that good safety practices are still lacking despite the fact that we have the necessary laws to provide for it.

The public transport sector needs to buck up and improve its safety record.

These operators must take full responsibility to ensure the safety of all its passengers.

We must all be committed to make Malaysia a safe country – safe not only from crime and violence but also from man-made tragedies involving public transport operators.

TAN SRI LEE LAM THYE,
Kuala Lumpur.

The authorities must conduct checks regularly with the bus operators to ensure that their vehicles are in a spick and span condition.

Do not accept bribe and approve the checking because you have blood on your hand for your corruption.

Bus operators who illegally modified the busses or allow more passenger to board beyond the approved limit are scoundrels which should be brought to justice because they put the passengers lives at stake due to their irresponsible act.

This is due to accidents involving busses that are becoming more and more often. We can read about it every other week. This is becoming serious. People are dying, for God's sake!

You just don't care because it is not a member of your family who died. If it's your wife or your children, you will bring the responsible party to justice.

The condition of the busses, the driver's condition of whether he is too sleepy or speeding while driving or if he is high on drugs should not be exempted.

Come on! Don't tell me you have never been intimidated by a speeding bus whose driver are driving like a drunken maniac, which followed your vehicle closely as if they want to run over you.

The same can be said about lorries. Those drivers are crazy because they think they can be road-bullies just because they are driving large transport.

On Dec 26, a double-decker express bus was involved in an accident at KM363 of the new Raub-Bentong road in which six passengers were injured.

On Dec 20, a high-decked tour bus was involved in a horrific accident at KM15 of the Cameron Highlands-Simpang Pulai road, killing 28 people, mostly Thai tourists.

Another reason for this could be that the officers in charge could be taking bribes and letting the bus operators do whatever they want to their busses at the expense of the safety of the passengers.

I am not accusing anyone here but this could be one of the reason.

This is after the exposure by Transport Workers Union (TWU) secretary-general, Datuk Zainal Rampak who said that the usage of imitation spare parts is among the main causes of the road accidents involving express busses.

If this is one of the reasons, then the authorities should bring forward those responsible in allowing this to happen; the bus operator, or the authorities that could ignore this even though the officers in charge are aware of what is happening because if Datuk Zainal Rampak exposes this, surely there had been complaints about this before which had been ignored or hushed up because the people involved have their interest at stake, so to hell if some people have to die.

The Land Public Transport Commission (LPTC) is contemplating regulating express and tour buses in terms of its speed limiter, magnetic brake or retarder, seat belts for passengers and higher standard of bus body construction.

Too late because too many people had lost their lives due to your incompetence. The family involved in the accident should sue the bus operators until they are bancrupt for being so irresponsible and ignoring the safety of the passengers just to save a few bucks.

In Malaysia, the authority only takes action when these kind of tragedy happens. If it didn't happen, they would still be complacent and just let things slide through. Get busy and do your work instead of relaxing in the office, will you?