Another building collapse - The public has lost confidence in “Projek Kerajaan Barisan Nasional”
I refer to the NST report today entitled “10 hurt after classroom floor caves in”. The report said that the wooden floor of one of SK Gunung classrooms in Alor Setar Kedah caved in during morning lessons and the incident caused a year four pupil to be hospitalized for broken legs. A teacher and 9 other students were given outpatient treatment.
Although the cause of the incident has not been determined, the State Education Department building inspectors and the Fire and Rescue Department did not rule out weak floor structure as one possibility.
This is appalling as the report said that the building was only renovated a few years ago. Questions once again arise on the integrity and quality of Government contractors. This is not the first case where public building collapse due to poor job done by Government contractors. The public has lost confidence in the safety and quality of public buildings due to recent incidents where Malaysians have seen water leaking in the Parliament to landslides to collapse ceilings of ministry buildings and court complex, and not forgetting the collapse of the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Gong Badak Stadium.
The Government cannot afford to wait until incidents like this happen before taking actions. The first thing it has to do is to check on the integrity of all new buildings especially those done by contractors who have history of poor quality work. Secondly, it is now time for Barisan Nasional to come clean on awarding contracts for public projects. Pakatan Rakyat State Governments have shown the way towards open tender which not only reduces the cost of project through competitive bidding but also ensure that only the best contractors get the job.
The question remains whether Barisan Nasional wishes to continue enriching their cronies through dubiously awarded tenders or to safeguard the safety of the Rakyat and to use public funds prudently.
I urge the State Education Department to immediately conduct a safety check on the other buildings in SK Gunung and also all other project done by the contractor of the collapse building. If found that the collapse is due to poor construction work, the contractors responsible should also be blacklisted from taking on public projects in the future.
Chong Eng
Member of Parliament for Bukit Mertajam
DAP Deputy Secretary General
DAP Wanita Chairperson
DAP Education Secretary