IT IS very untimely that the shutdown of the Kelana Jaya Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line (between Kelana Jaya and Ampang Park stations) for seven days till Nov 15 has to happen at a time when caretaker transport minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong is already grappling with a tight schedule of having to attend to his 15th General Election (GE15) campaign matters.
The four-term Ayer Hitam MP himself – who was also the sole MCA parliamentary survivor after the party encountered a wipe out in the previous national poll – is well aware of what awaits him on polling day slated for Nov 19.
In the GE15, Wee, 54, will be in a three-cornered fight with PH candidate Sheikh Umar Bagharib Ali, who is also the Johor DAP vice-chairman as well as PN candidate Muhammad Syafiq A Aziz, a special officer to former menteri besar Datuk Osman Sapian.
Unfortunately for Wee, disgruntled voices among the tens of thousands of LRT commuters – not to mention his political opponents and social media critics – are demanding heads to roll considering that – as put it by veteran journalist and blogger Datuk A. Kadir Jasin – “feels like it’s been more than a year since unreliability became the new standard for mass transportation services in the Federal capital”.
Describing the LRT system operated by Prasarana Malaysia Bhd as a “third world” mode of transportation, Kadir insisted that the parties responsible – starting with the Transport Ministry to the Prasarana board of directors to senior management should resign or be reshuffled.
Ironically, there is no “probok chairman” a.k.a. Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman this time around to be made a scapegoat unlike in May 2021 when he ‘stole the limelight’ for his lack of professionalism when handling questions from the media or even showing empathy for 47 commuters who were seriously injured after two LRT trains collided.
“The main asset entrusted to them which is the LRT has become the subject of jokes and insults. White people call that ‘butt of a joke’,” lamented the former Bersatu supreme council member in a recent Facebook post.
“Already worthy of being given the nickname least reliable transportation. Truly hopeless. It seems like the parties’ in-charge don’t feel anything about being dubbed makan gaji buta (literally ‘eating blind salary’).”
Recovery underway
Meanwhile, Wee in one of his latest non-political Facebook posts said he has been closely following the developments related to the closure of 16 stations on the Kelana Jaya LRT Line.
“This morning (Nov 10), I chaired a meeting with senior officials of the Transport Ministry in Putrajaya who included the ministry’s secretary-general Datuk Isham Ishak; deputy secretary (land division) Wan Mohd Asraf Wan Salleh and the management of Prasarana led by its president and CEO Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah and CEO of Rapid Rail Amir Hamdan,” he updated.
“I then went to the Kelana Jaya Line operations control center (OCC) to receive an initial briefing by Hugos Ramos and Vincent Burdin, two Thales Group expert who arrived from Singapore yesterday (Nov 9).”
Together with the OCC staff, Wee said Ramos and Burdin they have been continuously testing the affected system and running train movement simulations at two-and-a-half minute intervals while analysing the data logs.
Meanwhile, two more experts from Thales are currently on a flight from Toronto (Canada) and will commence inspections immediately upon their arrival. Prasarana and Thales had been in close contact since Monday (Nov 7), according to Wee.
“I will chair a media conference tomorrow morning after I return to OCC to get the latest developments,” he noted.
“In the meantime, we’ve thus far increased the number of intermediary buses to 112, an increase of 44%. Prasarana has re-located its feeder buses servicing its MRT (Mass Rapid Transit lines) with support also coming from Smart Selangor and Maraliner.” – Nov 10, 2022
