False Memory
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 — The Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) announced today the formation of a special inquiry committee on the Genting bus crash, more than a month after the shocking tragedy that saw a record 37 lives claimed.
In a statement here, the public transport regulator said the committee will be chaired by SPAD CEO Mohd Nur Ismal Kamal, and will comprise representatives from the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), Road Safety Department (JKJR), Malaysian Institute of Road Safety (MIROS), Road Transport Department (JPJ), Works Ministry and other relevant agencies.
“The key function of the committee is to evaluate all evidence and accident reports from MIROS and PDRM, and other agencies, as well as make recommendations to the government on how to prevent such an incident from recurring,” SPAD said.
The regulator added that it will also give special focus to safety audits conducted on operators of express and stage buses.
A day after the ill-fated bus that plunged into a ravine August 21 and killed 37 people, English daily The Star reported that the vehicle was placed on a blacklist by JPJ prior to its journey to Genting Highlands.
The newspaper said this was confirmed from checks on the bus’s records in the JPJ website. It is not known, however, the reason for the blacklist.
But later the same day, SPAD said at a press conference that the bus had not been blacklisted nor overloaded, as alleged in a separate report.
Its chief, Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar, said the bus was classified as a feeder bus, and explained that it was within regulations for the vehicle to ferry the reported 53 passengers at the time of the incident.
According to its licence, the feeder bus was allowed to carry up to 65 passengers, with a maximum of 45 seated and 20 standing.
On September 4, Bernama reported acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein as saying that preliminary findings of the special committee formed to probe the bus tragedy had not been able to ascertain the actual cause of the accident.
According to the national news agency, the minister said the findings were tabled to the JKJR but could not reveal if the crash had occurred because of negligence by its driver, the bus structure itself, the road condition, or the condition of bus like its brakes or tyres.
Bukit Aman CID chief Hadi Ho Abdullah has defended Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's 'shoot first' remark, saying the minister was urging police personnel to act in self-defence should there be any "clear evidence".
The "clear evidence" that Hadi Ho ( left ) was referring to are instances where the suspected criminals had fired shots at the security forces.
"If you look that what the minister said, you must take it in its full context. He said if there is clear, clear evidence.
"In this instance, if the police go for a raid and the criminal fires shots, flashes out his firearm and shoots at us, that is clear," Hadi told a press conference today.
He said that he had never received nor heard about the 'shoot first, question later' instruction since he joined the police force almost 40 years ago.
"(Please) ask any of the officers. We have never received such an instruction, we had never heard of it before," Hadi added.
Zahid has come under fire for his recent speech in Malacca last Saturday, where he had urged the police to "shoot first" if they had the evidence of suspected criminals.
He clarified this in an interview with Astro Awani yesterday, saying that the infamous remark referred to the fatal shooting of five suspected mobsters by police in Penang on Aug 19.
Hadi said police would give a warning in advance to a suspect, if they have the opportunity to do so.
"(But) sometimes when you go in, even before you can warn them, they shoot at you.
"So what do you want to do? (To tell them) 'Please don't shoot, if you shoot again then I will shoot you'? It doesn't happen that way," he said.
Hadi said the police followed a "very strict" standard operating procedure (SOP) in terms of self-defence, as stated under the Penal Code.
"So, if (we are) in a situation where the criminal is firing, what do you expect the police to do? To run away from the scene? To wait until he is trying to slow down and talk to him to (persuade him to) put down his gun? I don't think so.
"We follow a strict SOP where we have the right of defence," he said, adding that there were cases where police personnel had been charged because they had fired without following the law.
Hadi said he would be very grateful to have a person "teach" police how they should react when dealing with such a situation.
Thus, he was also confident that society would prefer the criminal to be shot instead of police.
"You want the policemen to die or action to be taken against the criminal? Which one do you like?" he questioned.
'No VIP involved in Tiga Line'
On a separate matter, Hadi denied that the Umno leaders whom Zahid had named during the same event are members of the Tiga Line underworld gang.
"I can tell you the names he mentioned, those few VIP names, we have checked, they are not members of Tiga Line, Double 7 or Pekida.
"Of course, if any VIP is member of these, we would have noticed it already. So those names he mentioned were never on the list of the members of this illegal society.
"If they were, then we whould have arrested them. The minister also told us, if he were among the members and he committed a crime, we should arrest him," Hadi said.
In his speech, Zahid had claimed that the four Umno election candidates who were present with him at the event are members of Tiga Line.
He also referred, in a joking manner, to Umno supreme council candidate Shahidan Kassim, one of those present, as the "biggest Tiga Line gangster".
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Inquiry Committee on the Genting Crash will soon hear evidences from witnesses. But how many will be from false memory? Witnesses are not immune to hearing all kinds of rumours and opinions from friends and strangers and reading different take from media.
Even the authorities have transferred the blame onto the dead driver as the sole person responsible for the crash.
But what the owners and the authorities are not telling the public is that many people have complained about the condition of that particular bus for almost a month before the crash.
How many people know that there were cars park along that bend which the bus driver had avoided hitting before going down the ravine.
The Chinese driver is a decent man who had to do his job to earn a living.
So who is going to clear the dead driver's name and return the family's dignity? How many evidences will show up from false memory?
Case Number Two
For the past 30 years many innocent men and women were either sent to prison or killed, I prefer the word 'murdered' because of false memory.
Malaysia police like to take short cuts to close every single case. They are either too lazy, were bribed, tidak apa attitude or simply do not know how to investigate.
Let me give you one example. When my son was molested the policewomen and Education Department simply call up (by phone) Sri Kuala Lumpur and ask the clerk whether Nora Zam Zam had molested my son and three other boys. When the clerk said she did not know, the police and Education closed the case. I had to pursue the case personally by taking my son who was the victim and my daughter who was the witness to the police station to make sure the policewoman took down their statements. Even then I was scolded and told off by the policewoman that small kids like to make up stories. In spite of my many efforts and new evidence from other teachers, the policewoman refused to re-open the case because the owner of Sri Kuala Lumpur had managed to get her a promotion.
So with the new PCA in place of ISA, how many more innocent people will be kill and how many will be detained without trial for two years. And how many evidences will be from false memory.
It is with hope and wishes that Typhoon Nari will cleanse this nation otherwise more and more innocent victims are killed and many others are make to suffer.
