Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Landslides and Tragedies... whose fault is it anyway?

My heart goes out to families whose members perished in the landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa.. anguished by the thoughts of people losing people they loved... also to those whose lives were taken by the terrorists in Mumbai and closer to home some unwarranted deaths on the roads like the one in Tangkak that claimed so many lives.

I just wonder what has the government done to avert all these disasters. Much as I was busy and too busy to write, my heart tells me that I need to write something on all these. News over the past few days really akin to rubbing salt onto the wound. While we see needless deaths due to negligent drivers and ill maintained express busses, we have the authorities telling us that the fourth passenger in the car need not buckle up. And their freaking excuse was only 5%-6% of vehicles carry the 4th passenger. They need not be issued a ticket either.

Try reading between the lines.... the laws should have been black or white... either you break the law or you did not. Right? Now, if the 4th passenger would not be issued a summon, then he/she is not breaking the law.. right? Then why must 3 flers at the back buckle up and the 4th be exempted? Now, do we have the statistics that say that rear passengers who do not buckle up had caused more deaths than the motor cyclists that carry an entire family on their two wheelers? Or deaths to motorcyclists without crash helmets? Are there any statistics to show that vehicles that zipped past traffic lights after it has longed turned red caused more deaths? Or could it be that cyclist or motor cyclist nipping in a one way traffic or riding against the flow of traffic causing more accidents on pedestrians than rear seat passenger do to the two in front? I was at best flabbergasted by the news that came out. It seems that the authorities just wanted to make some money from retrofitting some cars with rear seat belts at best in coming up with such a ruling.

Imagine you are driving... two kids in the rear seat. I think all the more these two would be "brazenly" breaking the rule. Now would the police expect:

1. The driver to be focussed on the road or
2. To be busy looking back reminding their kids to buckle up and be less focussed on the road?

Which is more important?


That aside really, coz I thought it was a big issue.. but not after I read our PM and DPM's oh so holy statement that all hillside developments be STOPPED. I was like wow... "should this not have stopped since Highland Tower tragedy? Isn't this too little too late?" Then... there was this piece of news today which compelled me to write. HERE.

Looting by the authorities and refusal to help buried victims.... and of course the police deny it. No one will know for sure... but if its coming from the victims who were there first hand... who would you believe? I would believe the authorities naturally if they had in the past held the high moral ground and proved themselves blameless and honorable but am afraid, the scars of their past does not allow me to believe them... and with statements coming from CPO Khalid, I am all the more suspicious after his statement on the detention of the candlelight vigil in PJ.

Indeed there are many things to write about... just too busy to do all that at the moment. At the top of my mind too was the Jerit folks who were arrested in Johor and their machines "torched" by arsonists... co-incidence? Arsonists working hand in hand with the police? And I am suppose to believe and trust the police? Gimme a break!

10 comments:

Calvin Soo KJ said...

kev, my family and i was totally heart broken to hear the news of the landslide as well. my mom all of the sudden cried in the morning after reading the papers....she usually do not watch the tele, but only her fav korean dramas. there are so many tragedies that happened lately, maybe its part of god's reminder to rely on him more. anyways, the issue on jpj is also frustrating. what the heck were they talking about? we have monkeys running this country :( we have to be prepared for the worse next year. have to tighten my belt and eat more bread instead....lol. at the same time can have a diet. :)

Anonymous said...

You're back... yay! i can finally bitch here again.... but then again, I'm too sleepy to bitch about anything at the moment. LOL... just come here to say hi and welcome back... wait for my hand grenade tomorrow. LOL

Malaysian Joe said...

yeah, Calvin, my heart aches each time I hear of some nitwit making some utterly silly statements and take us all for fools. I am thinking about writing about Mr. Mosquito too.. M. Kayveas on how he was told off. Serves him right for sticking with BN...

Trust in the Lord we must. But the Lord also asks of us to be teachable. Are we taking our own personal thoughts as word from God? I see this as a crux of ppl manipulating religion.. anyway, long story for another day .. LOL.

Cleffy! Waiting for your grenade or C4!

Anonymous said...

*takes deep breath!

Frankly speaking, I had wanted to write something about the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide, but then again, I was kinda stunned with the whole thing. Who wouldn't? That place is where the Highland Tower fall, the gov should have known not to allow any further development in that area, knowing that the place is not safe? Dun these mofos have common sense? Wait! of course they do. They had the sense to receive bribes and loads of $$ in their Swiss bank acc... as to allow such development in that area. Ah, the joy of seeing how these bastards run our country. It's so nice to see them fuck their own asses with loads of hard cash on the expense of people's life. the joy, the thrill of watching it is probably nicer than watching 2Fast2Furious!

As much as I pity the victims, I really couldn't have the sympathy to them wholeheartedly. Why did I say this? I have always believe that God create such disaster for us to see truth. In this case, it's the corruption. >Points to Bukit Antarabangsa-those people are maybe victims, but you see, they are also rich... DAMN rich-the only thing that could affect them is probably the loss of lives, not the material possession. Perhaps God wants to tell them something through this disaster.

By the way, did you kno that the Bodohwi's secretary is also one of the victim? Well... he survived, and die die also he went back into his house to collect Bodohwi's diary and secret documents. Why so scared ah? Is there something that malaysian shouldn't see in Bodohwi's diary? I truly believe that feller survived for a reason, which is to expose our sleepyhead's dirty and stinking secrets!

Anonymous said...

cleffairy,

"they are also rich... DAMN rich-the only thing that could affect them is probably the loss of lives, not the material possession. Perhaps God wants to tell them something through this disaster."

are u nuts or idiots? do you have something against rich people?

natural disaster kills people regardless if they are rich or poor. what about those poor people, if they die in other natural disaster? what is God's message for them?

If God really wanted this to happened, then don't blame govt for approving hills projects. In fact continue more hills project and other risky projects that can be prone to disaster.

Cos if God wanted to tell us something, he will make a disaster happened, but if not then we got nothing to worry right? Cos we cannot go against the will of God right?

I am truly amazed by your thinking, simplicity and shallow in thought.

Malaysian Joe said...

Hehehe... Clef, how do you know they are rich by way of corruption? When they build palaces grander than the king's?

cakapaje said...

Hi MJ,

I cannot say anything about the incident mentioned in M'kini as only S&R personnel are allowed on the site of the landslide path. But I did mingle with other security personnel around the area, and many are courteous and helpful. In fact, in keeping to their orders, they were hurled abusive words by some residents. One incident happened in my presence and part of the story is in my entry.

Anonymous said...

Kevin, when they die die also wanna go back into a collapsing house to collect PM's personal diary. LMAO.

Malaysian Joe said...

hi cakapaje,

Thanks for your first hand news. I guess at the end of the day, there are many frayed nerves and since it happened at Bkt Antarabangsa, the news was "glamourized", if it happened at other Bkt that has squatter houses, (eg. many years ago at Pos Dipang where many orang aslis died in the landslide), the news was muted.

Malaysian Joe said...

Cleffy,

see the news yesterday... a freaking SAFE! Well, these ppl are so rich that the thought of them losing their lives is of little consequence as long as their worldly posessions are intact. Losing their souls is not an issue. Those were lost many many years back.