The National Landslide Mishap

It was a huge shock when I watched Tv3 over the net, the landslide at Bukit Antarabangsa. As far as i concern it is an elite housing area where many professionals and well off people live. 14 bungalows were swiped by the mud. 

One of the victims appeared on the tv giving comments is JPS consultant. I see him everyday coming to my office doing the project of Flood Mitigation in KL area. Yes he is rich. Pity on the victims, they lost everything now. Sehelai sepinggang the malay proverb says.

I just wanna question the role of authorities in Malaysia, especially in deciding on any projects undertaken on hill slope. For your information, prior to giving consent on any project, there are several government agencies involved in the committee providing technical reports to the District Officer (DO). The agencies are mainly JKR, JAS and JPS, plus some others. Normally we achieved consensus on case basis and hill slope is a big NO. But what happened now is really mischievous. The people might think the other way and start to blame the government.

The urge of having hillslope development by the contractors has forced the authorities to grant approval without paying concerns on its consequences. The destruction done to the environment plus risks to the dwellers do not stop them from making profit at all. Previous experience seems not a lesson to be learned. The Highlands Tower incident was not a history to remember perhaps...

From JPS point of view, development on the hillslope must be accompanied by thorough studies, hydrologic analysis with detailed precipitation data and reports etc. Have we ever been consulted prior to the development? Who has given approval for the projects? If the projects known to be risky in the future, why was this proceeded? 

On the other hand, Kuala Lumpur City is in the demand of rapid development. As the development grows, the infrastructure (drainage system) has to be improved to cope with the growing population. Improper drainage system can also cause flooding in low lying areas instead of landslide. 

Water is associated with the stability of slopes. Landslides and mudslides are geological hazards that are often associated with prolonged periods of high intensity rainfalls. These hazards are threats to lives and their occurrences are due to development on hill sides and hill tops including road cuttings. The hazards occur more frequently now than before, both in urban and less developed areas including highland resorts.

In 2002, the ‘Development Guidelines for Highlands’ was accepted and enforced by all State Governments in order to achieve sustainable development in highland areas. Another step forward taken by the government to address landslides was the initiation in 2004 of a study on the master plan for slope improvement measures in Malaysia. On 1 February 2004, Slope Engineering Branch was set up in the Public Works Department, primarily for managing road slopes and other slopes associated with the development of government projects.

Malaysians never learned! But Malaysians are only shocked when something happened, we only learned by precedence. That is the Malaysianistic approach. Fuuuhhhh Malaysian Boleh!