After spending RM10 million, the Parliament leaks again. Good, spend another RM10 million, and put it right. This is the Malaysian culture of being responsible, nobody claims responsibility, blame goes elsewhere, money goes to the dogs and yet life goes on. What is wrong. Why is there so much of apathy with Malaysians. Is there no pride in you as a human and an administrator of government money which belongs to the people. Assuming this leakage happened in the house of either Mohd Zin Mohamed or PN Selvanayagam, would they just fold hands and give this pathetic look, what can I do. Is there no shame in them, not even an iota, they are the administrators, what must they do. If this happened in any other country, the Works Minister, PWD Director,(where was he anyhow), or in his absence his deputy must be suspended from work and an enquiry held, and those responsible cannot be reinstated until their name is cleared. That is how a government is run, not the shoddy system that is practiced now, preparing a cabinet paper; what for. Have not enough cabinet papers been prepared in the past without tangible results. In the train accident in China lately, the Railway Director, his deputy and the Communist chief of that area were sacked. This will put the fear of God in our administrative system, rather than mollycoddling with the people involved in the mess. Sack and suspend, thereafter every civil servant including the Ministers, will know how to do their work well. This happened previously, as our civil service was a replica of the British system, but now a cabinet paper is necessary. A waste of time and chronic management.
Leaks recurred at the Parliament building this afternoon – just two weeks after Works Minister Mohd Zin Mohamed’s assurance that it would not happen again.
Water dripped from the ceiling at the Parliament lobby, near House speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia’s office, this afternoon at around 5pm following a one-hour heavy rain.
The parliament sitting, which was extended from 5.30pm to 7.30pm today, was however not interrupted by the incident.
The incident came just two weeks after the minister made an inspection at the Parliament House and assured the leaks – a problem which has consistently plagued the 47-year-old building – would not recur.
Shortly after the leaks were detected, Mohd Zin and Public Works Department deputy director-general PN Selvanayagam paid a visit to the Parliament and inspected the roof.
According to Mohd Zin, the incident was not due to the roof leaking but the air-condition system.
“The rain water flooded the down-water pipe causing the backflow leak through the air condition duct,” the minister told reporters at the lobby.
Following the latest incident, Mohd Zin said he and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz will propose a cabinet paper for a rehabilitation of the Parliament building.
Disgraceful, says Kit Siang
Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) and M Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) expressed their outrage over the leaks.
Lim described it as “disgraceful”, and Kulasegaran asked why the problem continued to occur.
“We have spent more than RM100 million in renovation, what has gone wrong?” the Ipoh Barat MP said, referring to a massive renovation work just three years ago.
Deputy speaker Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar also expressed his displeasure.
“I am not satisfied with this when we have spent so much (on renovation) but (the roof) still leaking, especially now that the rainy season is coming,” he told reporters at lobby.
He added that the house committee, whose new members are not named yet, will look into the problem.
The committee is tasked to deliberate and consult on issues regarding the comfort and facilities in Parliament, as well as the services enjoyed by MPs in the house.
In April 2005, the Dewan Rakyat sitting was abruptly adjourned after water poured into the chamber following a thunderstorm.
The problems continued to recur for a few times last year (file photo, left), albeit at a minor scale, despite the government said it has tackled the problem.
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