KUALA LUMPUR – The fatal crash involving an Immigration Department vehicle that claimed the lives of a father and his two daughters should not be dismissed simply as an unfortunate accident, says Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Head of Anthropology and Sociology Dr Nur Hafizah Yusoff.
She said while investigators must establish the facts surrounding the Aug 19 incident, the tragedy also raises wider questions about how enforcement operations are conducted and whether foreseeable risks were properly managed.
“An accident describes the outcome, but were there identifiable risks or failures that could have been prevented?” she told Scoop.
Hafizah said investigators should examine the entire chain of events, including decision-making, vehicle speed, compliance with standard operating procedures (SOPs), training, supervision and the operational environment.
“If the investigation establishes that established procedures were ignored or that foreseeable risks were not properly managed, then this becomes more than an unfortunate accident. It becomes an issue of accountability and institutional responsibility,” she said.
However, she stressed that a distinction must be made between an unfortunate outcome, negligence, misconduct and criminal liability, with any such determination based on evidence.
Hafizah said enforcement agencies, despite having certain privileges when operating official vehicles, still have a duty of care towards other road users.
“Members of the public comply with the law and give enforcement officers certain powers because they expect those powers to be exercised responsibly and for the protection of society,” she said.
She said operational necessity should never come at the expense of public safety, adding that enforcement effectiveness should not be measured solely by whether an operation is completed or an officer reaches a destination quickly.
“It must also be measured by whether the operation was conducted safely and responsibly,” she said.
On the use of emergency privileges by enforcement vehicles, Hafizah said such powers were operational tools that should come with stronger safeguards because of the risks involved.
She said there should be clear rules governing the use of emergency signals, appropriate speeds, how intersections are approached and the level of caution required even when an enforcement vehicle has priority.
She also called for proper documentation and wider use of vehicle monitoring, dashcams and other recording mechanisms, where appropriate, to allow incidents to be reviewed objectively.
Importantly, Hafizah said accountability should not automatically stop with the individual officer involved.
“Criminology has long recognised that harmful outcomes can result from individual decisions as well as organisational conditions,” she said.
Questions should therefore be asked about whether officers were properly trained, whether SOPs were clear, whether supervision was adequate and whether there had been pressure to complete operations quickly.
Hafizah said authorities should also examine whether similar unsafe practices had occurred previously without consequences or whether warning signs had been ignored.
She described this as looking beyond the “bad apple” to examine the “barrel”, stressing that organisational factors should not excuse individual wrongdoing but should also not be overlooked.
She said the priority following the tragedy should be to prevent a similar incident from happening again.
This includes reviewing SOPs for high-risk enforcement driving, providing regular defensive and emergency-driving training, strengthening supervision and using technology such as vehicle tracking, dashcam footage and operational data.
“The ultimate measure of an effective enforcement system is not only how effectively it catches offenders. It is also how effectively it protects innocent people while doing so,” she said.
Hafizah added that the public should avoid convicting anyone in the court of public opinion before investigations are completed.
But neither, she said, should the word “accident” be used to prematurely close the question of accountability.
“A serious criminological inquiry asks whether the deaths were foreseeable, whether the risks were properly managed, whether procedures were followed, and whether the institution had adequate safeguards,” she said.
“If preventable failures are identified, accountability must extend from the individual level to the organisational level.”
The driver of the Immigration Department’s “Black Maria” lorry, Mohd Akbar Zainol, 43, has pleaded not guilty to five charges, including dangerous driving causing the deaths of a father and his two daughters in the crash along Jalan Sultan Ismail here early on Aug 19.
Mohd Akbar entered the plea after the charges were read out before Magistrate Aliaa Anwar at the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
The case is being investigated under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987. – August 21, 2026