Dilapidated bridge used by students declared unsafe and shut down
The dilapidated suspension bridge in Kampung Nelayan, Sandakan – which was being used by students from SK Sibuga Besar to get to school – has been shut down starting today by the local authorities due to safety concerns.
Umno’s Sungai Manila assemblyperson Mokran Ingkat informed Malaysiakini that officers from the Works Department (JKR), as well as engineers from the Sandakan City Council (MPS), found the bridge to be unsafe for use.
“I just got the news that the flooring of the bridge has been repaired but JKR and the MPS engineers have declared the bridge to be unsafe for use.
“The allocation application for the bridge’s full repairs are currently ongoing. MPS will shut down the bridge starting (today).
“As I informed you, the restoration works will take between three to six months from today. There is an alternative route to school that is the tarred road less than 4km away from Kampung Nelayan,” Mokran said in a text message to Malaysiakini.
Images of students from Kampung Nelayan having to cross the dilapidated suspension bridge to get to school attracted attention on social media since yesterday.
Children using the bridge
The images – shared by Bernama on its social media – depicted children in school uniforms carrying their backpacks and school supplies as they crossed the part of the suspension bridge that was missing most of the wooden planks on its deck.
Sungai Manila assemblyperson Mokran Ingkat
The students are seen carefully gripping onto the rope railings as they navigated across the broken part of the bridge.
According to Bernama, these students from SK Sibuga Besar in Sandakan, Sabah, were forced to cross the dilapidated bridge to get to school on the first day of the school's reopening.
The images shared by Bernama have since gone viral on social media platforms, with many questioning how something like this can still happen in Malaysia.
The students are seen carefully gripping onto the rope railings as they navigated across the broken part of the bridge.
According to Bernama, these students from SK Sibuga Besar in Sandakan, Sabah, were forced to cross the dilapidated bridge to get to school on the first day of the school's reopening.
The images shared by Bernama have since gone viral on social media platforms, with many questioning how something like this can still happen in Malaysia.
kt comments: How something like this can still happen in Malaysia??! Just wait a while and I'll show you
Some expressed concern for the students’ safety while others accused the local elected representatives of not performing their duties.
In their responses yesterday, both Mokran and Bersatu’s Libaran MP Zakaria Mohd Edris said they had sent their officers to provide aid for the temporary repairs of the bridge.
In their responses yesterday, both Mokran and Bersatu’s Libaran MP Zakaria Mohd Edris said they had sent their officers to provide aid for the temporary repairs of the bridge.
😒😖😠😡😏
Mokran had also said the bridge will require full restoration works, which requires more allocation and time.
Mokran had also said the bridge will require full restoration works, which requires more allocation and time.
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kt comments:
I posted the following over a number of years, with the one before this on 03 January 2018:
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MM Online - Pahang child crosses broken-down bridge over river for school (extracts):
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 2 — A video of a child making a dangerous river crossing in Pahang using a bridge that has been broken down for months — to allegedly go to school — has gone viral today.
In a video posted by Facebook user Siti Zaharah this morning, a young boy is seen with a man, both gingerly inching their way along the edge of a metal bridge that hung on only one side.
The two were seen holding on to each other and to the sole railing on the bridge using one hand each, with parts of the 1.24 minute video also showing the child clutching the man’s arms with both hands.
“The child of the mother [sic] is spirited and wants to go to school. But have to cross this sophisticated bridge...Already a year, no change at all...Suspension bridge at Pamah Aur, Bukit Betong, Kuala Lipis,” the Facebook post accompanying the video said.
On 26 January 2006 or 11 years ago, I wrote about Pengkalan Pasir village near Kota Baru, Kelantan, where its villagers cross a canal by means of a rotting wooden bridge - the precarious crossing injured a couple of people and killed even more, including the last two in 2005, 5-year old Noralili Mohd Yusof and 65-year old Khatijah Rahmatullah.
The villages had actually raised notice of the decrepit and dangerous state of the bridge to the authorities, but as usual in such a rural village, especially in PAS-controlled Kelantan, nothing was done.
The current Pahang/federal government is no better with regards to the suspension bridge at Pamah Aur, Bukit Betong, Kuala Lipis in Pahang.
Related: a 2006 post Malaysian 'Cynics' will have 'Scenic' Bridge to Nowhere!
In a video posted by Facebook user Siti Zaharah this morning, a young boy is seen with a man, both gingerly inching their way along the edge of a metal bridge that hung on only one side.
The two were seen holding on to each other and to the sole railing on the bridge using one hand each, with parts of the 1.24 minute video also showing the child clutching the man’s arms with both hands.
“The child of the mother [sic] is spirited and wants to go to school. But have to cross this sophisticated bridge...Already a year, no change at all...Suspension bridge at Pamah Aur, Bukit Betong, Kuala Lipis,” the Facebook post accompanying the video said.
On 26 January 2006 or 11 years ago, I wrote about Pengkalan Pasir village near Kota Baru, Kelantan, where its villagers cross a canal by means of a rotting wooden bridge - the precarious crossing injured a couple of people and killed even more, including the last two in 2005, 5-year old Noralili Mohd Yusof and 65-year old Khatijah Rahmatullah.
The villages had actually raised notice of the decrepit and dangerous state of the bridge to the authorities, but as usual in such a rural village, especially in PAS-controlled Kelantan, nothing was done.
In such a situation where a non BN Party governed (still does) the State, there would be the perpetual argument over who the responsible authority had been, the State or the Federal government, but the people who were either injured or killed were all Malaysians.
One wonders how many such rural bridges and how many pot-holed tracks in the kampongs (villages) could have been repaired and how many personal computers purchased for use in the kampong schools with the RM2 billion a previous government allocated to the construction of a ‘scenic’ & very crooked bridge to nowhere!
One wonders how many such rural bridges and how many pot-holed tracks in the kampongs (villages) could have been repaired and how many personal computers purchased for use in the kampong schools with the RM2 billion a previous government allocated to the construction of a ‘scenic’ & very crooked bridge to nowhere!
What a wastrel.
In that same year 2006, in Pasir Mas, to get to school near Kampung Lati would be virtually a life-and-death struggle for the school children.
In that same year 2006, in Pasir Mas, to get to school near Kampung Lati would be virtually a life-and-death struggle for the school children.
They have to cross the Banggol Jering river by treading precariously on floating plywood boards strapped together over bundles of bamboo. This has served as the pupils’ makeshift bridge for six years (up to 2006).
Student Sharidan (who is by now 11 years older) said: "We have to be very careful so that we do not rock the boards. Sometimes the (river’s) rapid current makes it very dangerous."
Student Sharidan (who is by now 11 years older) said: "We have to be very careful so that we do not rock the boards. Sometimes the (river’s) rapid current makes it very dangerous."
The school is 200 metres from the river. Two years ago, an eight-year-old pupil drowned after losing his balance on the wobbly boards.
Another 12-year old student, Nor Aimuni Shafikah Che Awang said she would always pray before crossing the 'bridge' although she had been using it for five years.
Yes, 11 years ago I said I was sick of seeing poor Kelantan school kids being subjected to sub-3rd world conditions in their daily lives, when a previous government, with a talent for wasting billions of ringgit, wasted billions more building a non-existent crooked bridge to syiok-kan his grudge against the lil' dot.
The current Pahang/federal government is no better with regards to the suspension bridge at Pamah Aur, Bukit Betong, Kuala Lipis in Pahang.
Related: a 2006 post Malaysian 'Cynics' will have 'Scenic' Bridge to Nowhere!
The allocations were made based on the reported incidents.
ReplyDeleteBut those mfering politikuses used that allocations to line their own pockets, along the ways many subbranches of the governing depts partook in cleansing what were left after the previous cuts!
Thus, the reported situations in various locations persist till this days!
It's partly administrative delinquency, mostly personal insatiable greeds of the indoctrinated kind!
Robert there are certain "scared cows"in our country who you must not criticized - your comment has been deleted
ReplyDeleteKT, I respect that this is your blog. However, the bigger point I was making was that royalty is in a position to do more to ensure the welfare and protection of the rakyat.
Delete