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!