Woes of floods

Points To Points  (12)

                                      Woes of floods

          It has been 5 long long years since the really huge flood warning of our lengthy years of negligence of our environment.  One of our ministers declared it to be a rare occurence (once in 40 years) and ‘a natural disaster’ [Yi hou buon tyen].  A really huge flood occured in 1963.  (My mother told me she was giving birth to my younger sister and was stranded in the clinic for several days.  At that time, the whole town was flooding heavily.)

          This is the problems of our ministers who always take things for granted.  He took the serious warning as a happening ‘once in a blue moon!’  [Gin mo di sih] : (They did not consider the frequent devastating heavy flash floods in West Malaysia as warnings and saw them as the consequences of man-induced disasters.)

          (In 2002, i was in Kuching and again i bear witness as huge flood also taking place there.  My parents’ house was built on the high grounds.  But it was flooded to ‘3 feet deep’.  This told me clearly that the poor drainage and speedy development without considering the impact on our environment were the two main factors contributing to heavy floods.  Everyone was taken by surprise but no one bothered to know the causes.  They all thought it only occurred ‘once in a century’ and so life went on bla................  Now, i think flash floods have also become a common scene in Kuching and very heavy flood is no longer a rare occurence taking place ‘once in a century’) [chiu si nyen]

          (No one  before 2005 could believe the fact that Bintulu and Miri where the land is so high above the sea-level also flooded like low lying area like our Sibu town.)  (Floods have become a common feature everywhere.  It is no longer a unique feature in Sibu (Venice in the East during the rainy seasons)

          Then we had another very heavy floods again in 2003.  In low lying area like Jalan Tong Sang, flooded so heavily that only boats could serve the purpose then.  (My sister-in-law was down with sickness and could only take a boat to see the doctor!)

          Only another bout of huge, heavy flood that took place in 2003 that our leaders of Vision started to panic a little bit and realised it was not an rare happening (once in 40 years) and it could occur so often.  However, they were still not sure what to do to solve the problems.  When the floods subsided, they abandoned the problem of floods as well.  They never took the problems of floods seriously.  Thus we had ‘not so heavy and long floods’ in 2004 and 2005 and they saw these happening as natural phenomena. (They then blamed the geographical situation of Sibu all the time for the cause of floods.  Our leaders of Vision abnormally lack critical and analytical thinking.  I bet they still think like this.)

          After so much pestering and begging, they started to clear the drains more often than ever before.  Actually, floods have been a characteristic feature in Sibu.  (It floods so often that our leaders have taken floods for granted since our independent days.)  Not even one leader has ever bothered to take ‘not so big floods’ seriously and thought of doing something to remedy the situation.  They did not start to remedy the situation at the very beginning.  They all took floods in Sibu ‘too natural’ to require remedy and effort.  The consequences of devastating heavy floods in 2001 and 2003 were the results of this mentality of our leaders of Vision and other leaders since the independent day. 

Our leaders of Vision also lack of the sense of sight and insight to solve the urgent problems of floods bit by bit and little by little with micro-projects.  I often wonder how our leaders of Vision are going to implement the mega project if they do not care to carry out the micro-projects to solve the problems of floods.  Isn’t it the mega-project made up of many micro-projects?

          The fact that none of our leaders of Vision (LV) live in the flood prone areas to

feel and experience the pain and difficulties of floods: 

1)    Flood water came into the sitting room and soaked the furniture and other

     household equipment.

2)    Some people living on the ground floor had the experience of floods raising

      to the level of their beds and higher.  They were forced to live in the hotel.

                (You see they suffered great loss in silence.) 

          People suffered great loss in different aspects of their lives:  brakes and number plates of the motorcycle and cars were spoilt and needed repair or for new ones; plots and plots of vegetables were ‘drowned’; goods in the shops got wet and  shops had to close down for business............  But they were just too innocent and ignorant to demand for justice from our leaders of Vision. 

And our leaders of Vision have never helped on behalf of the flood victims to request the government to pay for the loss.  (They observe the rule ‘Silence is golden’ when people need their voice to speak out.) [si li mai kong, kong ni ing ni] [buon tyen sou kuong] They are indifferent to the suffering of the people. That’s why the problems of flood plight the Sibu people year after year.  (In West Malaysia, the government pay the flood victims readily. “ 63 million has just been paid out to the victims of the floods for the loss” (13 January, 2006. The Borneo Post)) (What about the victims of flood in Sibu?) [si ni sibu nyen ha gai siu ku nang ar!]

Our leaders of Vision, have been so incapable to do anything to alleviate the situation.  Hence floods occur year after year.  We just had one on 8-9 January, 2006. The same scenes repeat annually:  roads are flooded and impassable; water go into the houses in the low lying area with poor drianage ; school children have to wade through water to get to their schools; plots and plots of vegetables get soaked; traffic jam .............

          Our leaders of Vision lack of the senses of urgency, priority, direction and action.  The worst of all is the lack of the common sense as far as the problems of flood is concerned.  They have wasted a lot of money consulting the foreign expects on the matter of floods in Sibu when many and many our Sibu people could tell them better what needs to be done to alleviate and solve the problems of floods:  preserve and conserve our environment at all cost especially the upstream; reduce erosion to its minimum; build proper and improve the drianage system; dredge the siltation in the river regularly and take action straight away..........! 

Come on to register the houses which have been sinking, tilting, cracking,

and the like to be demolished. Please rehabitate the people properly.  Attend to the urgent matter first.  Prevent the people from wasting money to repair, to jack, to do piling to stablise the house.  Start doing now.

          Our leaders of Vision  know now that the floods in Sibu (99%) are caused by poor drianage and siltation of the river.  But they have not done much to remedy the situation.  They still waste a lot of money, time and energy on other matters.  They spent ONE MILLION on forum talking (nonsense) the economic development in Sibu.  (Correct me if i am wrong about the amount of money spent.)  What a waste!  They are blind to the urgent needs of the people:  Act straight away to solve the problems of flood (It has been 5 long years for our leaders of Vision to act positively!  But they remain inactive.)  (They all seem to wait for the mega project to be implemented to solve the problems of flood in our Sibu town once and for all.)  Good infrastructures are the basic condition to economic development.  (A 9- year-old child can understand, too.) (Where has their common sense gone?) 

Lack the every sense of priority.  Our SMC has wasted a lot of money to renovate, decorate and beautify our town centre; construct the luxurious structures at the expense of the really needs of the people. (At this stage and this place, we can’t afford these things.  Our Sibu town centre lacks the space and the Sibu people need more conducive environment to do business to survive.)  The Sibu people need good and flood-free environment to continue the business.  Hence our wish is to have every cent saved to build and improve the drainage system and dredge the river regularly. 

          They have no sense of direction.  That is why they have been restless.  They have wasted a lot of money to consult for foreign experts for the problems of flood.  The recent forum (One million spent) to acquire knowledge to reconstruct and develop Sibu!  (ruan kai bo shiu zien) 

          They ‘bilibala......hou.......’ too much to take prompt action to remedy the situation.  Hence a month or so after (one million) forum, we had another blood. (on 8-9 January, 2006).  I can assure if we have heavy rain 3-4 hours, we will have heavy floods again and as soon.  But our leaders of Vision still lack every action to start the work.  I don’t know how many more floods, we need to face before our wish for flood –free Sibu is fulfilled.

          It is said the mega-project would only be implemented under the 9th Malaysia Economic Plan.  We are assured that it will start in 2007 (a year to wait only).  It is a long term project.

          Meanwhile, i don’t our leaders of Vision have started the short-term projects:

          1)  build more systematic drainage system to channel excess water fast enough

          2)  improve the existing drainage conditions

          3)  dredge the siltation of the river

         4)   clear the drains more regulary

          5)  supply the people with 1-2 big tanks to each household to keep rain water

               from the roofs.  Consider it an effective alternative method to prevent flash

               floods.  (When i was small, we did not have the convenience of the tap

               water.  Every family had 2-3 tar ball drums to keep water from the roofs. 

               Hence, i had never heard of flash floods when i was small.  Besides, there 

               were enough vegetation and trees to slow down the flow of rain water. 

               Now, on the other hand, huge tracts of land have been cleared for

               construction of houses, road and other commercial purposes and thus a

               widespread of land are stripped bare of vegetation and trees which used to

               serve the great purpose of soil binding.  Now flash floods have become a

               characteristic feature in Malaysia as a result of drastic change of our

               lifestyle and negligence of our environment.)

          To conclude my points of view:  Act now to remedy the situation (to show our leaders of Vision really ‘boleh’) in the short-term project and implement the well-planned long-term project to overhaul and reconstruct our Sibu town once and for all.  Make it a really ideal place to stay for good.

The Truths of Hows and Whys

Points To Points  (11)

                             The truths of Hows and Whys

          Refering to Robert Lau’s discourse on his glorious rule as a SMC chairman,   (30th December, 2005, the Borneo Post) on behalf of the Sibu people, I would like to pinpoint out a few things as one of the helpless and frustrated residents in Sibu.

          Now let discuss how well-spent the tax-payers’ money was:

First, did he really spend people’s money wisely as chairman of SMC:  when he found the need of uniformity and classy-look of the floor tiles in the Sibu Central Market, he ordered the replacement of the floor tiles that had been laid down.  (i don’t know how many feet in length times how feet in width had been destroyed for replacement for a more fanciful ones.)  I wonder how much money had been wasted to make the changes.

          Second, I still don’t understand why the need of so many stainless steel of bar barriers planting all around our simple and humble town.  (Not so matching, lah:  too awkward to the sense of sight)  It is not easy to guess how much SMC had to pay for each bar.

          Third, I wonder how much SMC had to pay for each those big, big trees (look like coconut or palm trees to me) transplanting ‘artificially’ all over our so congested and crammed town at the expense of our narrow streets.  Hence our narrow streets became narrower and thus aggravated our traffic problems further.  (If i am not mistaken, it was so much self-glorifying act and show-off to perform because Sibu was then chosen to be a town of ceremony of some kind.  Please recall the occasion for me.  He was too eager to impress the guests of honour to this simple and humble town.  He wanted this simple-and-humble-looked town to appear sophisticatedly noble and attractive.)  Consequently, he made our simple and humble town look so unbelievably awkward and embarrassing.  The worst scenario he created was making our streets just too narrow to the traffic flow.  Alamat! What a curse! What a shame!

          No wonder “Counsellors get ‘hot’ over illegal parking” too.  (29th December, 2005 The Borneo Post. P. 4)

          Fourth, I don’t know how much money was wasted to pave the paths outside the five-foot ways and form patches of pavement here and there ( some in the middle of the roads!)  The pavements outside the five-foot ways are constant nightmares to the shop operators and customers.  They are deprived of the right demarcated parking units or bays to do quick transactions.  (Don’t misunderstand me: pavements along the streets for pedestrians  all round the Sibu town is absolute necessary but not pavements outside the five-foot ways.)

          So much about how tax-payers’ money was spent, now let’s talk about how people-friendly he was.  “He said he lost 40% of the Chinese votes in his last election just because he couldn’t please the few individuals.”  (31st December, 2005, The Borneo Post)  However, in my understanding, he lost at least 99% of the Chinese votes because the projects he implemented or the laws he imposed affected and offended the Chinese residents adversely.  It was too much one-man rule and show.  A great number of ‘numerous projects implemented during his years as chairman’ were not people-friendly.  That is why he was so condemned and unpopular as chairman.

          The following  5  factors were fatal to him as chairman of SMC:

          First, he shouldn’t have pavements built outside the five-foot ways.  It was really unnecessary waste in addition to inconvenience caused for the shop operators and the people to get transactions done in 5-15 minutes.  On top of this plight, he inflicted helfy fine or illegal parking.  (If i am not wrong, SMC really earned a lot in the first year when the law passed to fine illegal parking.  SMC is still earning in 2005.  Lau said its second biggest revenue was from the collecting of petty fines (RM50) for illegal parking.  Do the survey how many people in Sibu can earn RM50 a day.)  He indeed created avenue for earning $ for SMC with the $ collected from illegal parking.  (Look, he created illegal parking situation to earn $ for SMC!)

          Second, the charge on parking is 42 cents for half an hour which is 2 times plus 2 cents more that parking in Kuching.  At the beginning people were not used to this new ruling.  The fine for not placing a parking couple was RM20 (RM5 in Kuching) (4 times more than Kuching).  He also helped SMC earn a very large amount of $.  (If i don’t remember it wrongly, it was 200+ thousands in just 2-3 months’ time.)  He grinned in elation of his success and achievement at the expense of the drooping face with gritting teeth of the poor, poor, ignorant and innocent Sibu people.

          Third, he was too effective in dealing with the matters of cats and dogs.  He really offended and hurt many cat and dog lovers in Sibu beyond words (kong mei chu  nyie touyieng yi).

          Fourth, he took too speedy an action forbidding the people in Sibu to keep some chickens and ducks (with good control and discipline) with leftover food for own consumption in the coop in their compounds.  He smashed the Sibu people the little joy and fun of keeping some organic chickens and ducks for own consumption.

          Fifth, his ways of keeping Sibu clean was just too high-handed to be appreciated:  conceal the rubbish bins most of the time but only place them out on the garbage collection days;  the rubbish must be tied up in plastic bags (Look, not environmentally-friendly at all: create waste of plastic bag rubbish insensibly)  Calculate how many plastic bags have been abused in this manner.  (i am puzzled why rubbish can’t be disposed in the rubbish bins only.)

          He hurt and offended too many residents (mainly Chinese) in Sibu and ........................

          Now let’s see the by-product of his recreation:

          The  parking buses, lorries land cruiser or pajero, motorcycles or bicycles on the pavements has become a unique feature in Sibu.  This uniqueness is another point worthy making known to the world.  This phenomenon, i bet, only exists in our Sibu town. 

          The trap for illegal parking is everywhere in the sibu town and is exciting to adventurers too.  It is more than a game  for SMC and the people.  (If you can catch me, you win (RM 50).  If not, i win the ease of parking just right to the shop of my choice to enjoy my food and drinks for a while.)  The Sibu people thus form the habits as a result of the set-ups and the SMC chairman’s creation.  Now it has become blurred who is the cause of the problem. 

The poor Sibu people  lack of the critical and analytical thinking to tell the former SMC in accord:  Ged rid of the potted plants, those artificially planted trees and unnecessary pavements and make ways for parking and easy traffic flow.

          Our present SMC chairman definitely needs to cultivate some wisdom to ‘undo’ the mistakes the former SMC chairman committed to remedy the situations.  Otherwise, we shall hear the people repeating the story of how poorly managed Sibu is.  The former SMC chairman created the problems and the present SMC chairman continues the mistakes and makes life not so easy for the poor, innocent and ignorant Sibu people.  This voice of anger will echo far and wide. 

Breeding grounds

Points to Points  (10)

                                      Breeding grounds

          A human being is a human being.  A human being is subjected to our conditions.  Thus we can be conditioned readily to be or not to be. In other words, we can be moulded easily and accordingly.

          Hence, aggressive or friendly parents breed aggressive or friendly children; biased or just parents breed biased or just children; considerate or selfish parents breed considerate or selfish children;  dare-devil or timid parents breed dare-devil or timid children; frugal or wasteful parents breed frugal or wasteful children, honest or dishonest parents breed honest or dishonest children and so on and so forth.  This is usually the regular pattern, of course, we have irregular pattern or odd ones to consider.  This is the cause-and-effect of what our micro-environment could produce.

          Well, regarding macro-environment the same law applies.  It is said that the Sibu people are too selfish as far as car parking is concerned.  It is evidently true.  Nobody can prove it false.  But please study the Sibu town centre road system first to understand and realise the law of cause-and-effect better.  I really find it a must to take our macro-environment into serious consideration before condemning these poor Sibu people.  Frankly speaking, the Sibu town centre does not provide the conducive environment to deter the people not to indulge in that poor and irritating habits:  park the car at one’s will especially at mealtimes without any consideration of other road users.

          Now let’s start the discussion of the situation in the Sibu town centre.  It is a mini-compact town centre.  To me, everything seems to cram to a place.  It is a very  conjected and crammed place.  It is not a well-planned and layout town to feel proud of.  It is a town that the people need high threshold of tolerance to survive without feeling irritated or frustrated over the narrow streets; lack of parking space on the ground adjacent to the shops where they want to do 5-10 minutes purchases, lack of parking bays  right in front of the shops where people can wait for their loved ones to get dismissed from work or let them get out of the cars without obstructing other road users. 

Besides, our Sibu people depend heavily on food business for a living.  Therefore, there are so many coffee shops and eating outlets dotted in every nook and  cranny in the town centre.  Often there are not enough parking space on the ground.  When people cannot find the parking lots nearby, they tend to simply park their cars alongside the coffee shops or eating outlets regardless of the inconvenience they may cause to other road users in order to have  their snacks, drinks or meals at the stalls of their choice.  It is hard to expect them to park their car a few streets away or 1000 or 2000 metres away and walk to their favourite stalls to have their food and drinks that they may need 10 to 15 minutes or so.  Thus, I would like to emphasise that it is natural for people to park alongside the coffee shops or eating outlets.  It is the unique set-up of the town centre that ‘encourage’ people in general to become very ‘selfish’ in that manner.  It has become a distinctive characteristic of our Sibu people.  However,  if there were parking lots near enough for them to park but they did not bother to park at the right place.  In this case, these people should be condemned  and despised for being  very selfish.  Hence, our macro-environment is the cause for the habit.

          To aggravate the situation of our streets, our Sibu Municipal council has taken the fancy to potted plants and trees as well as paved paths outside the five-foot ways  around the town centre and thus has deprived people of even less of the available limited space of the street.  It is really ridiculous and absurd to allow so many potted plants and trees and paved paths outside the five-foot ways. Imagine the space which would otherwise be used as parking bays is so abused for those fancies:  a garden-like town centre at the expense of the real needs of the  people.

          Moreover, the narrow streets are further divided by road divider to create two lanes going the same direction.  How insensible planning and decision. 

          If our leaders were more understanding, they would not allow so many potted plants, trees and paved paths outside the five-foot ways.  They would be more considerate to our stallholders, coffee shopowners and eating outlet businessmen  to do business in such a competitive environment.  They need customers to patronise them to continue their businesses.  To encourage them to come regularly means that convenient and sufficient parking lot in front or at the back of their shops is a must. 

          If our leaders were more understanding, they would not impose such heavy parking fees on car users.  They should do survey more often to check how much money the people in Sibu could spare on food, education and books after paying taxes and fees of different kinds.

          If our leaders were empathetic enough, they would try to feel how hard and difficult the people in Sibu have to struggle to meet their ends.  They would not simply impose fine in any manner they like. 

          Well, the well-being and welfare of the people in Sibu are very much at the mercy of our leaders.  Hence, our leaders wield the ‘magic wand’ to mould the characteristic features of the Sibu people.  To break the bad habit of parking at one’s will  of the Sibu people indeed needs the true wisdom of our leaders to help them. Providing the conducive environment:  first concentrate all the coffee shops or eating outlets at one place and provide enought parking space within the proximity.  Is it viable?  (Remember Sibu people or people in general opt for convenient places to park their cars and to go to places of their choice to enjoy their food and drinks.); second, provide enough parking bays for the people who only want to buy a thing or two and leave immediately.   Would SMC make an effort to correct their mistakes instead of having paved path outside the five-foot way, they provide space for parking bays? 

          To concluse my points of view, i think our leaders should learn to be people-friendly and create a conducive environment for people to cultivate and practise good habits.  Remember two-ways to win.  If you condemn, you will be condemned, too.

On Children -friendly

Points To Points (9)

                                      On Children-friendly

          Hou----------bilibala------------hou, which medium of instruction is better, English or Chinese for Chinese primary schools?  The grown-ups always have a lot to haggle and fight over their ‘fuddy-duddy’ ideas over education.  Ask yourselves how much you know about education.  Ask yourselves how children-friendly the education you propose is. 

          The ones who favour coffee insist the beverage to be the most wonderful whereas the other ones who enjoy tea want to prove as much.  Well---------------- no force on the children, please.  Ask the children to decide:  they will tell you they like fruit juice best!  However, we can’t let them to have a particular fruit juice they are addicted though we can give a little more. 

          As good, kind, reasonable, progressive, understanding and children-friendly adults, we should provide the variety.  It is the variety that help them to get all the nutrients they need to stay in good health and enjoy a happy and healthy life.

          Now, for Chinese primary schools, do the survey and find out the truth and facts how well the children can understand and enjoy Mathematics and Science in English.  Now the question is if they have the English background to understand or not!  If they have only spoken dialects or Chinese since small, I advise you for the sake of the children’s benefits, not your adults’ ideal and ideas, to force them to learn Mathematics and Science in English.  Can you understand me??? 

          English is a very useful tool in the international scene.  We definitely need to master this language besides Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia if we want to win at ease in this global environment.  To master the language, we have to put in enough effort to learn.  Think of better ways to learn English during English periods.  Increasing English periods should be a way to force learning intensively.  Finding means and ways to encourage them read English books of different genres extensively, newspapers and magazines is definitely a must in order to acquire a rich stock of vocabulary and knowledge.  To use English freely, we need good foundation of the language, so good grasp of all the grammatical rules is essential.  But learning English is not learning the grammar alone.  We should allocate time for learning the grammar.  At the same time, we should read widely to amass English words and knowledge.  Our ability to listen, speak, read and write  English well depends on grammar, vocabulary, knowledge as well as experience. 

          To conclude my points of view, I would suggest that Chinese primary schools use CHINESE to teach Mathematics and Science.  If you see no harm trying, let the children have Mathematics and Science in both Chinese and English versions but insist to have them explained in CHINESE

On Energy Conservation

Points To Points (8)

                                      On Energy Conservation

          It is not difficult for anyone to conserve energy as long as the ‘pain’ of payment is there to feel.  Therefore, it is easy for an individual to conserve energy because every unit in ampere is counted.  Thus, I don’t see people in general switch on lights at home during the day.  We have this good habit at home.

          In small shops, as I observe around the Sibu town, the shop owner knows only too well the amount of fluorescent lighting to use to call ’sufficient’.  They hate to waste electricity as they abhore to waste money.  It is not easy to earn money in the keen competitive environment.

          In medium shops, they know how to conserve energy too though their lighting is 20-30% more.  They want to outshine their products to look appealing to customers.  They endure the ‘pain’ of overlighting.

          However, in supermarkets like Everise, Farley, Ngiu Kee, Tai Kiong, Parkson and so on, their lighting is 100% more or overlighting many times because they are in the position to do that.  They have enough rich customers to pay these expenses for them.  Hence, their goods on display are dazzlingly bright and attractive to resist.  If you are observant enough, you see they don’t have sunlight from the windows or have no windows.  They just can afford air-conditioned system and artificial lighting.  Thanks the customers.  This is a kind of ‘pick winner’ and the problem of ‘painlessness’ towards energy conservation. 

          Another place I experience this ‘painlessness’ to the electricity wastage is the Sibu Central Market.  If you are alert enough, you see how wasteful it is!  You will be shocked to see that more than half of fluorescent lights are switched on without good reasons.  If it is the One-switch that turns on all the fluorescent lights, I think they should consider the amendments to justify the situation.  Switch off wherever and whenever it is not required like how we practise at home.   If you have feelings towards energy conservation, you will feel exasperated towards the management of the Sibu Central Market for being so wasteful.  They are so irrresponsible with the taxpayers’ ‘sweat and blood’!

          If all the markets and government departments in Malaysia were so energy-wasteful like the Sibu Central Market or supermarkets, then what a huge waste we would create daily.  Alamat! What a curse! What a shame!

          In align with our Prime Minister’s appeal to uphold the virtue of being frugal, let take actions from today onwards to make amendments or adjustments to lighting system and make full use of ‘adorable’ sunlight wherever and whenever we can.  Please avoid creating ‘autumn or winter’ in the building.  Learn to enjoy the tropical breeze or heat to sweat for our good health.

Once Again On Road Accidents

Points To Points (7)  

                            

Once Again On Road Accidents

          Samy Vellu said, “Highways are more deadly.”  Now the question is why highways are more deadly!  I think Samy Vellu should make it accountable.  He must find out the causes attributing to the problems and find possible solutions to solve them.  Otherwise, I am afraid road users may, some day, sue the government for the road accident because of the road conditions.

          “However, ......the statistics did not mean highways in this country were unsafe” he said.  (20 November, 2005, The Borneo Post)  Now the question is he did not tell us how safe the highways in our country are compared with the federal and state roads.

          He just presented some facts regarding the length of the highways to federal and state roads; recorded accidents and deaths in different types of roads in comparison.

          “He said that the statistics showed the federal and state roads had been in good condition and safe for vehicles and this was due to the implementation of short and long term programmes by PWD to improve road safety.”  This is exactly what should be done to improve and upgrade the highways to prevent road accidents.  Isn’t it not the road conditions that account for the overall road accidents?  Apply all your senses to ponder over these ‘lethal’ problems.

          In my opinion, I think our highways really need as much attention by the PWD to improve and upgrade road safety.  

          He also said there had been RM262 million allocation for the construction of motorcycle lanes.  Now the quesiton is how long the motorcycle lanes have been constructed in relation to the total length of the road and how much $ allocated have been spent properly and wisely.  We want to know these facts.

          He also mentioned of building pedestrian bridges, traffic light crossings, overtaking lanes, paved road shoulders and road lighting in the programmes.  Now the question is if there are adequate pedestrian bridges, traffic light crossing.............. to help reduce road accidents.  In other words, have the authorities concerned done enough?

          To conclude my points of view, I can say it for sure that improving road conditions is the most effective way to reduce road accidents.

          Please set up a committee to study the road conditions and road accidents as well as formulate the effective measures to implement to curb the problems once and for all. 

          Remember every life lost on the road because of the road conditions will bring curse and retribution to all the decision-makers and contractors who enjoy all the benefits and gain in the process if you believe the Power of the Lord of this Universe.