KUALA LUMPUR: The Penang state government should be held responsible for the lost of lives in the Tanjung Bungah landslide tragedy, Tenaganita said today.
Its executive director Glorene A Das said appeals and demands by Penangites, especially civil society groups, for the state government to halt all hillside and major high rise developments have all fallen on deaf ears.
“The calls of the people, the lives of workers or the general public do not seem important, but what seemed crucial are “development”, “business” and “profit”.
“Therefore, we solely hold the Penang state government accountable for the lost lives,” said Glorene in a statement today.
“There is no doubt that the landslide at Tanjung Bungah is a tragedy, but let it at least mark a turning point in our attitude towards safety at the workplace and towards migrant workers on whom we depend so much,” she said.
She said it is high time that authorities concerned take their responsibility seriously to ensure the highest standards of safety at construction sites and also to clear all ambiguities about the responsibility of the main contractor in the event of any mishaps.
“There have been far too many cases of workers being given the runaround from the subcontractor to the “kepala” (head) to the contractor in their quest for justice and most often they are also found to be living and working in slave-like conditions.
“The prevailing system of subcontracting construction workers further aggravates the situation and emboldens the main contractor to shirk responsibility for the welfare of the workers who are injured or killed at the works site,” said Glorene.
She called on relevant authorities for effective measures to be taken based on a transparent thorough investigation into the causes of the tragedy.
She said that many, if not all the migrant workers involved in the tragedy could have been undocumented and were unlikely to benefit from the meager insurance protection they are entitled to.
“All migrant workers who have been injured of lost their lives must be fully compensated, regardless of their status.
“Both the main company and the subcontractors or the sub-sub-contractors must be held responsible for the compensation to the grieving families of the migrants and other workers,” she added.
On Saturday, a landslide struck a construction side in Lengkok Lembah Permai, Tanjung Bungah; killing 11 of its workers, including a Malaysian.
The incident happened at 8.50am as the victims were at the basement of an affordable housing project of a 50-storey building.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the close proximity between the construction project and the hillslope as the main cause of the landslide.
He said the site of the project and the slope was only 500 meters apart and that although the project had received the approval from the authorities, certain aspects of the project contravened several guidelines.