Who would have thought that 15 years after the Highland Tower tragedy, similar disaster is affecting houses located approximately 1.5 km from the area. 14 bungalows were completely destroyed, killing 4 at the time of this write up.
Who was to be blamed?
You know how Malaysia isn’t that big (with population of about 20 Million thus far) and how everyone is connected to everyone in some way or another. And plus the fact that I have a very big family, so when Bukit Antarabangsa was struck with the landslide, you will find me going all frantic about saving someone who has been forgotten by the rest of the world (well, that was just me being all havoc and stuff).
So my sister’s family got cut off from civilization – no electricity, water or any manmade technological discovery you can never imagine having to live with. And the rest of the world forgot about those in Bukit Utama who was stuck at the top of the hill, as the only entrance out was inaccessible.
My brother, Maie who is staying with them was coming home at about 4 am that day. So when some makcik right by the street franticly tried waving him to stop, he chose to ignore fearing two reasons,
1. The Makcik was trying to get seringgit from him
2. The Makcik hitching a ride to some quiet area, which will later turn out to be a grave and the makcik is actually another creature of the earth. Err spooky.
The whole area was pitch black, and he couldn’t see what the fuss is all about when there were glimpse of ambulance and police car on the street. He stopped, got out of the car and then he saw a family running out of a house and the landslide occurring right in front of his eyes. If he were to be going home a bit earlier and not waste his precious time talking his friends at the mamak, he might even be under those piles of soil and rocks by now. Thank Goodness for that.
I only got to know when Ahmad called me at 730 that morning, so I rushed downstairs and frankly, quite shocked to see Maie enjoying his breakfast with ma and abah. So, it’s old news, and again, I am among the last to know (can even hear Huda and Fiza singing to this tune, flashback… during the time when I was actually the last in our circle to know that Huda is getting married!). And of course, I continued my sleep after.
Woke up at 10 am, and the rest of the day was spent on communicating with Colin and Maie (as the middle person) on the rescue plan. After various engagements with the authority and the neighbors, they boldly decided to GET OUT!
The best thing was, when PM announced that he is coming to the site, everyone stopped the SAR (Search and Rescue) work as they felt obliged to prepare for the arrival of the Yang Berhormat. But the Sultan of Selangor, as always, showed true leadership character. He came unannounced; hence, these people didn’t really have time to prepare the red carpet and the nuisance of making all the necessary ‘preparation’ work. But yeah, different people has different way of showing how mucyh they care la kan.
But anyway, coming back to the Evacuation Plan…
Msis couldn’t really walk with the bad ankle that she has, but she decided to brave the pain and the trail up ahead. I wish she would have just taken the heli, but there were an apparent lack of communication between the authority and the rest of those staying up there, so she decided to go through anyway. I waited for about 1.5 hours, before seeing the family. Gosh, what a relief it is that they are safe. Even Sarah (my two year old nephew) did not seem traumatized by the whole ordeal.
So here we are now after 2 long days, recapping the whole episode and how we wish things like this has not happen. An old Chinese man who were forced to evacuate, mumbled about how they have invested so much into the place, and how things such as this should not have happen. And yes, things like this should not have happen.
Today, there is still SAR continues for one last survivor, a Sri Lankan whom they fear may still remained trapped.
And yes, they have identify a probably cause. An expert even mentioned that this landslide is apparently man-made, as the area has the same geological factors as other parts of Kuala Lumpur, ie soil, rock and there is underground water everywhere. They say that the abandoned project may have been the cause of the landslide, as the site is not completed and there is no maintenance of the site.
Whatever it is, they need to punish the ones whom have caused this mayhem. And the kind of punishment needs to serve as a lesson to all.
5 comments:
I think I should hv cared more bout the issue instead of being sentimental bout something else.. .
Well, you just can't help yourself if you are sentimental within. Haha... Some people channel it for different ways.
i'm sad with the loss of lives & casualties in BA. truly, these are trouble times for those residents.
i just hope that the next time if catastrophe happens or due to happen, there would be no discrimination in terms of salary cap/scale, social positions, type of properties and other abhorring reasons.
i hope in the future that there'll be more people like you who went all the way to johor to help those flood victims like they are now in the east coast and again, johor.
i just hope that those monstrous & swift help like never before were not because of the ambassador of romania, PM's chief of secretaries, Dato Seri, Tan Sri or any other important people happened to live within its vicinity.
but i beg to differ on this, because it is only clear that our hopefully 'out-you-go' PM (i said hopefully because there's a hot rumours saying he'd only give UMNO's presidency and NOT being the PM) was there as swift as a fox because there are richmen & kingsmen dwelling those hills, and not because he's concern anyhow.
i may sound like pre-judging but i'll never forgive him for what he's done to the johor people back then and other unfortunate 'little' citizens in east coast, north, and pahang too.
but i sincerely thankful for those SAR teams especially the armed forces to have been out there helping.
may Allah place those who have passed on with the pious in heaven, inshaAllah.
but i will never forgive Abdullah for his two faces' drama. never.
Thanks sunshine (err.. i think i know u, right?).
It's just typical life isn't it. That's why there such thing when it comes to 'class'ification. THat's why there's private hospital, and government hospital. First class seatings, and economy seatings. The rich can buy the better life, and they can demand anything.
That is what communism trying very hard to avoid. But then again, would it be wise?
But yeah, let's try to poliicise everything! That's what the riches do.
since you've mentioned communism as the factor which has been trying hard enough to change the scenarios, and whether or not it has worked, i would put it as an emphatic NO.
communism does not work at all. why? merely communism will still feed those who are sitting close to whoever sits on the throne, like ones we're seeing in China & ex-USSR.
but why this is not happening in Cuba? why Cuba albeit unassumingly denied by the Americans, has the world's arguably best medical infra & workforce? why these Cubans managed to keep their homeland at peace, and their people at ease despite of unending economic sanctions and all?
this is because they practice socialism-communism. not entirely communism.
socialism to help the countrymen, whilst the communism to fend off foreign interventions.
i'm not saying that this country should be heading towards Cuban's style, simply because we have a different demographics, simply because we're multiracials.
but you see, in a 'prevailing' democracy throughout the world, we've seen economics recessions again and again. we've seen corruptions keep stemming up the hills of power.
human tragedies i.e poverty, catasptrophes became trivial. democracy made this world such a 'nice' place to live in.
democracy taught us to be stingy, to be selfish, to be 'i don't
care what happen to you', to be blissfully not knowing whatever happens to our surroundings, to be only caring what we would earn in the next 10 years or what rung in our career would we end up this year.
this is the tragedies of democracy.
i might sound a bit overly agitated about this, but i've seen enough what we the proletariats had to go through at the expense of the richmen.
i say, stop this nonsense.
let's work on the real thing. on the ground.
Allah SWT wants us to be fair to everyone and in the same time keeping our faith intact.
having private facilities this, private facilities that makes us human more selfish than ever.
but let's hear what you have to say about Dong JZ's take on their 'status quo' regarding vernacular schools.
let's make a point.
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