If we want to find fault with the new government, there are plenty.
The Penang chief minister said heavy rain may have triggered the landslide.
The works minister said if the landslide was due to negligence on the contractor’s side, then the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) will take action against the contractor.
How convenient; one was trying to blame the weather and the other was trying to assign blame to the contractor.
I don’t know but all this sounds very familiar to me. It was the weather, “Act of God”, and non-compliance of SOPs (standard operating procedures).
I thought the previous government was notorious for this — blaming everybody else except itself. I am afraid that from now on, we may be hearing the same baloney all over again.
There are so many questions I want to ask the Penang state government and the works ministry, more so now that the state and federal governments are under the same political coalition.
Heavy rain may cause a landslide. But if massive and fatal landslides happen in construction sites, were these due to the rain or construction?
If heavy rain can cause landslides in pristine land areas, why are we not anticipating that such rainfall can cause even more massive landslides in areas “disturbed” or cleared for development?
What new insight has the chief minister brought to the table when he says “heavy rain may have triggered the landslide”?
The works minister says it could be due to negligence of the contractors or non-compliance with SOPs and other rules at the work site.
How convenient. Why are we always talking about SOPs or rules after a major landslide has happened? Why didn’t we talk about supervision, enforcement and compliance before the accident?
If contractors did not follow SOPs, which resulted in landslides and deaths, should we just punish the contractors? I think that will be too easy. There are planning, approving, supervision and enforcement authorities at the federal, state and local levels.
May I know which authority was not doing its job to inspect and issue warnings, especially when there is heavy rain?
We can resonate very well with our condemnation of the previous government for its lack of empathy, inefficiency and corruption. The old government blamed everything and anything on others, except itself.
The new government is new at the federal level but as far as the state government is concerned, it is already quite old. Forgive me, but I think complacency and a lackadaisical attitude has spread to those governing Penang.
It is time to remind and get tough with them.
TK Chua is an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.