A ROAD safety activist has expressed concern over the announcement by Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook in Parliament on Wednesday (Aug 13) that the Ministry is mulling over the proposal to establish the Malaysian Transportation Safety Board (MTSB), a special body tasked with investigating road accidents in the country.
Loke said the proposal follows recommendations made by a special task force set up by the ministry to investigate the fatal accident involving members of the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) in Teluk Intan, as well as a tour bus crash carrying students from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) in Gerik, Perak, earlier this year.
In a statement, Shahrim Tamrin said from the announcement, it is clear that the Transport Ministry “has been reactive instead of being proactive on road safety”.
“For the record, the idea of MTSB isn’t something new in view of the efforts and mechanisms to make MTSB a reality were already in the pipeline since January 2014,” said the former member of the board of directors of Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS).
“Following the 51 recommendations by the independent advisory panel of the Genting bus crash which killed 37 people, the highest life loss ever recorded in a single crash so far in Malaysia, the then acting transport minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein had announced on January 29, 2014 that MTSB would be set up.
“On February 21, 2014, Hishamuddin stated that MTSB could be expanded to the aviation industry to probe into air crashes.
“On January 18, 2015, Hishamuddin’s successor Tan Sri Liow Tiong Lai had said that MTSB would monitor all aspects related to roads, rail, aviation and maritime safety. Liow also confirmed a decade ago that the formation of the board was at the final stage.”
According to Shahrim, MIROS had made an evaluation on the proposal to establish MTSB and submitted a report to the Transport Ministry a decade ago.
He said about nine years ago, several MIROS staff members had also been notified about their absorbation into MTSB as pioneer staff, while in late 2016, the Ministry had issued an official statement that it is still in the process of finalising the establishment of the statutory body.
“What happened to all the proposals on MTSB in the last 11 years by various independent panels and MIROS?” Shahrim asked.
“Why is the current Transport Ministry secretary-general seemingly stagnant on MTSB proposal and hasn’t advised Loke on the MTSB agenda since he became the minister for the second time in the past 33 months?
“Why is the Transport Ministry and relevant agencies seemingly only reacting to recent major crashes and only at present revisiting the proposal to set up MTSB?”
Shahrim went on to note that the Recommendation Review Panel (RRP) on the 51 recommendations by the advisory panel of the Genting bus tragedy formed in 2018 had pointed out back then to Loke that MTSB should be one of the top priorities by his ministry.
The RRP seven years ago was co-chaired by former MIROS chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye and the then transport ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Saripuddin Kasim.
“Hence, before establishing MTSB, I would like to suggest that the Transport Ministry’s officials study thoroughly of the Genting bus crash report as well as report by the RRP,” Shahrim continued.
“I urge the Transport Minister and its secretary-general to be serious on the agenda to save lives on the road, not to only offer knee-jerk reactions every time there is a major crash.
“And please, no more dilly-dally on the formation of MTSB since countless hours, presentation and working papers had already been documented in the past 11 years!” ‒ Aug 14, 2025
Main image: Bernama
