THE siren call of a tragic road accident that took away the precious service and lives of nine of our nation’s uniformed personnel today, May 13, has come too late.
Perak police chief Datuk Noor Hisam Nordin rightly described the incident as a “profound loss not only for the FRU but for the entire police force”.
For decades netizens, with the conscious support of responsible and concerned media, have cried out to the authorities in vain to reset the road safety and discipline standards in our country.
Today’s most painful loss once again surfaces with the same old claims of the lorry driver having
“multiple prior criminal records, including drug-related offences” as well as summons.
Nationally we have failed to tackle the collusion of unsafe conditions with unsafe actions that are the cause of all road accidents.
Citizens expressing shock and anger over the accident ask, when will we ever ban drug abusers and law breakers from being gainfully and stealthily employed by transport company owners?
In this tragic accident are the lorry company owner/s to be absolved while only the driver is dealt appropriately?
The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is reported to have ‘instructed the relevant authorities to conduct a full and transparent investigation into the tragic accident’.
May I remind the prime minister that this reset of road behaviour and safety is too long overdue, if not expired.
Our road accident statistics do not lie.
If we cannot enforce a simple law of anti drug abuse and road rage as well as ban road safety law breakers from being behind the wheels effectively, all the road safety campaigns including traffic police and JPJ operations is not going to take us anywhere except down the road of more national loss and painful tragedies. – May 14, 2025
J. D. Lovrenciear is a Scoop reader