Transparency International Malaysia President Muhammad Mohan has urged the government to consider setting up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to probe the LRT collision with independent experts and technocrats from the field and findings made public.
This is to ensure that a thorough investigation is done to find out not only the root cause for this crash resulting in injuries to the 213 passengers but to also identify what other peripheral issues including if organizational failure was part of the problem.
The LRT had a tremendous good safety record since it first started 23 years ago with thousands of commuters using this public transport daily. But when it comes to human lives and safety of the people there should no compromise except to do a transparent investigation not only on the technical issues but also on the organization’s system and culture and most importantly to hold those responsible accountable, no matter how high they may be in the social or political ladder. The comments in the media by the former special functions officer of a former transport minister, on the suspicion by many of a systemic or organizational failure is something for the government to take into consideration.
The RCI when they complete their probe and report, should make public their findings for the sake of transparency and accountability and also determine what corrective actions should be put in place such as retraining and providing additional control procedures to prevent such an unfortunate incident from happening again.
This incident could and should not have occurred merely because of one person’s oversight for a split second. Malaysians deserve to know what actually happened, who is accountable, is the public LRT system safe, were there any shortcuts, abuse or cover ups. These are the questions that need to be answered and presented to the public
transparently.
Note to Editors: For clarification on any and all official statements from Transparency International – Malaysia (TI-M), kindly refer to its President, Dr Muhammad Mohan (mmohan@transparency.org.my)
