Posted on by Kit

Tip of iceberg? More disastrous public building mishaps to come?

Transparency International Malaysia President Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam has said that the recent collapse at three new government buildings is symptomatic of the state of deterioration in standards, quality, productivity and efficiency in the country.

He said that there’s too much concern to make a quick buck and too little attention given to professionalism and warned that this could be “tip of the iceberg”.

Ramon is eminently qualified to pass such a stricture on the public service delivery system as he was one of the last top non-Malay civil servants, at a time when the Malaysian public service was still identified with quality and world-class standards.

The question posed by Ramon is uppermost in the minds of Malaysians — whether the trio of mishaps of three brand new government buildings in the past three weeks are mere “tip of the iceberg” which portend even more disastrous mishaps in the near future with grave consequences to life, limb and property?

In actual fact, there had been quite a catalogue of construction mishaps in the past three months, as apart from the recent trio – the flooding of the seven-floor Immigration Department headquarters in Putrajaya because of plumbing failure, the collapse of a ceiling at the Entrepreneur and Co-operative Development Ministry in Putrajaya and the ceiling collapse in a secretary’s room at the world’s largest court complex at the Jalan Duta court complex — other mishaps involving brand-new government buildings and public projects or those under construction included the Parliament (ceiling collapse as a result of pipe leakage), Matrade Building, MRR2, fungus in new hospitals, the navy complex fiasco, smart lab fiasco, etc.

The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has called for the Public Works Department to inspect all government buildings nationwide while the Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu has welcomed the call and praised the Prime Minister’s for his wisdom!

This is most ridiculous and outrageous. How did Malaysia descend so quick and fast in the past three years down the slippery slope of a third-world nation, not only in the maintenance culture but in the deterioration in standards, quality, productivity and efficiency in the public service delivery system?

One important reason for such a shocking state of affairs in the public service is the deplorable culture of impunity for negligence, failure and even corruption — as testified by the scandal that no one had been hauled to the courts to pay the price for probably one of the longest government list of failures for public buildings and constructions for a country reputed to have “first-class infrastructure” and for a time the world’s tallest twin towers!

Can Samy Vellu, for instance, give an iron-clad guarantee that there will not be another collapse in brand-new government buildings or public construction projects or he will resign to accept responsibility for the shocking fall in standards, quality, productivity and efficiency in public works directly under his charge?

Visitors to my blog on “Public building mishaps — once is accident, twice is coincidence, thrice is systemic government collapse” have made very pointed and pertinent comments and analysis superior to all the comments which have been made by Cabinet Ministers, and the Prime Minister and the entire Cabinet are well-advised to keep in touch with the pulse of the nation by diligently and conscientiously following developments relevant to their ministries in the Malaysian blogosphere.

Unfortunately, despite the government promotion of Information and Communications Technology, we have Cabinet Ministers who are so antediluvian as to want bloggers to be ignored if not silenced.

The following are a sample of some of the perceptive and pertinent comments on this subject which deserve the attention of the Prime Minister and his Works Minister and should be the basis for discussion by Ministers in their next Cabinet meeting on this subject:

1. Collapse of structures in new buildings are not due to poor maintenance. New structures should not disintegrate so fast. The problems are due to poor construction, simple. And poor construction are due to poor workmanship. Poor workmanship are due to bad contractors. Bad contractors are due to bad systems of awarding contracts. And bad system of awarding contracts are caused by a bad public delivery system. And bad public delivery system are due to a bad Govt which practises NEP cronyism and corruption which breeds the bad system of contract awards. Matrade Building, MRR2, fungus in new hospitals, the navy complex fiasco, smart lab fiasco, shit, the list is endless.

2. They are looking at the wrong end of the problem.
It all starts when you award a turnkey project without open tenders to a crony who does nothing except sell it off at a reduced price so that instant rewards are attained.

Now it is a major situation as there is little you can do about substandard foundations and pipe fittings and substandard equipment.

Expect more disasters.

3. It is a shame to have such adverse reports on poor quality of work done in government buildings. If such things happen in the private sector, there will be rolling of heads.

The people responsible should be held accountable and the government should punish those responsible and review the overall tender system. This is clearly a result of mediocratic policy and a practice of patronage which have caused wastages, danger to lives, bad image to the country and worse… the rakyat suffers as their tax money is being used to pay for such sloppy work instead of generating for more productive use.

4. With all these water leakages causing so much havoc, dare anyone use the up to 12km SMART tunnel when it is soon open?
Will the storm water causes the ceiling and walls of the tunnel to break and flood the whole tunnel and causing havoc within it?

Will such a catastrophe ever occur? Normally, no. But given the standard of our technology and our poor workmanship, where highways crack open, overpasses are not safe, ceilings collapsing etc etc, there might be a very good chance the tunnel might not be safe. Will and can Samy Vellu and the government guarantee it?

When Parliament reconvenes on Monday, Samy Vellu should present a Ministerial statement to respond to all the pertinent and pointed criticisms about the deplorable plunge in public service standards, quality, productivity and efficiency pertaining to the Public Works Department and to lay out his ministry’s strategy to ensure that the trio of recent government building mishaps would not be the “tip of the iceberg” paving the way for even more disastrous mishaps in the near future with grave consequences to life, limb and property!

44 Replies to “Tip of iceberg? More disastrous public building mishaps to come?”

  1. Poor Samy Vellu. He is going to have a hard time responding to all the earlier mentioned pertinent and pointed criticisms about the deplorable plunge in public service standards, quality, productivity and efficiency pertaining to the Public Works Department.

    This is a case of “once is accident, twice is coincidence, thrice is NEP in action” and we all know Samy is a pawn within the bigger system over which he cannot change.

    As I said in earlier thread, Bernama 13th Feb reported what Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi already ought to know when he said “a study by the Works Ministry last year shows that on the average 85.37 per cent of projects secured by Bumiputera contractors went to the other communities”. Lamenting the outcome of the study, conducted by the ministry’s Entrepreneur Development Division, the prime minister said this not only foiled the government’s desire to empower Bumiputera contractors but also, to a wider context, undermined the more important Bumiputera agenda to ensure the country achieved progress and stability in the long term. “They do not want to work, do not want to learn, and give little importance to the opportunities provided by the government,” he said in his speech at a dinner of the Implementation Coordination Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department.

    The traditional sino malay arrangment (“Ali Baba” style) is very much alive and kicking. It is in conformity with the feudal patronage system of feudal lord collecting rent from serfs working on their land. Isn’t this part of the Social Contract – I get the privileges of licences and you work for right to be here?

    I don’t see any difference except that subcontractors also want to break even or make money for carrying out the job and taking the entrepreneurial risks. If the politically connected licensee wants a big cut, how does one expect the sub contractor to give good materials and incur costs of skilled labour to provide good workman ship? They’ll sure cut corners, never thinking of image when structures of new buildings give way, or thinking about lives this may cost. They’re thinking of survival, every man for himself. We don’t really have an ethos of pride in excellence of craftsmanship or work here. The NEP negates it.

    But without the excuse of NEP and the money to be made by politicians and their cronies, how does one finance ‘ang pau’s in Ijok, machap by-elections or general elections to win them?

    No winning means no power, no power means no chance to make money, no chance to make money means no chance of ever getting back to power to make money ad infinitum. It is a cycle of political life that cannot be broken at any point, no matter how destructive for the whole country and everyone for the long run.

    .

  2. Lucky for us that Bolehland cannot build passenger buses, trains and planes. Else there would be daily crashes involving hundreds of lives which will be blamed on lack of maintenance and not on poor design and workmanship

  4. It is very obvious that everyone is kow-tim from Quality Control, Inspection, supervisor and so on. When you have been paid, you are not supposed to finger out any misdoing. Everyone close one eye and everyone will laugh to the bank. If blame is to be accorded, then the JKR should be the one as they act as QC for the construction. Don’t they do site inspection to ensure that plans are followed and project signed off. Get those who have signed off the project to pay for it for they should have certified it. Don’t tell me there is no record to indicate who have signed off the project. How can our PM said it is maintenance when the report is not ready. We must have super CSI team to pinpoint the cause of failure so fast without sieving thru the evidence. This is Bolehland where everyone knows the problem but noone takes the blame and someone will be awarded for resolving the mess.

  6. The answer from no value mp is simple and straight forward:

    The Act Of God

    50 years is ENOUGH
    Vote For A Change
    Vote For Any Opposition
    Give Them A Chance To Change For A Better Malaysia
    Remember bn Is A Useless Grouping Of Self Serving, Corrupt, Dictator, Power Crazy, Racist, Kris waving, etc, etc type of parties.

  7. We have irresponsible, short sighted and self serving leaders.

    When are they going to learn that one cannot impose progress and development on the people – there is very little benefit to most people and it creates a lot of problems.

    Do they think the ordinary people in the kampung benefited from the so called ” progress and development “?

    Our leaders will do anything for money!

  8. Hmm…I thought the SMART Tunnel were built using European technologies? The new tunnel construction works had been aired on Discovery Channel last year. And I saw the foreign, mostly Germans and Australians had been imported to manage the TBM machine to do the underground drilling works…should be more sophisticated. :)

  9. As I have said in an earlier thread, when there there was a cave in during the construction of a MRT line in Singapore, the Govt had a full public enquiry and the culprits clearly identified and properly punished. This sent a strong message to those in the industry. If you fail to observe your contractual responsibilities, the full force of the law will be thrown at you.

    Sadly, this will never happen in Bolehland. Because none of these mishaps can stand up to public scrutiny. The can of worms that will be opened will be so damaging, it can even bring the Govt down. Underpinning the awarding of these contracts are rampant cronyism and corruption and to subject these failures to a public enquiry will mean all these shit will come to light.

    Yes, YB Kit, you can bet your last bottom dollar mishaps will happen again and again. Unless you can rid the problem of the underlying endemic corrupting influences, this problem remains. It all starts from the top, period.

  10. “The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has called for the Public Works Department to inspect all government buildings nationwide while the Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu has welcomed the call and praised the Prime Minister’s for his wisdom!”

    For his ability to praise the PM’s long overdue iniative, Samy may now be exempted from answering all the collapsing fiasco of govt building in parliament. We know we will never get an answer from BN but it is ok, more Malaysians are watching them now. There will come one day when the people no longer need a answer from them.

  11. Front Page News>>Good Greifs National Chaos>>INFRAstructures Damaging and soon becoming White Elephants…
    Economy Collapses drastically ,Umno Talk only No Action …Futher It Will Never Recover At All….As the Govt/Public Funds were vanishing….IMF Is the Only way/solution For Malaysia AS ANwar Ib.recomended before…in 1997 Econ Slow Down
    Rakyat…Wr need a Real Strong Constitution to Challenge ..
    A Constitution Reform Regime Change…>>
    Democracy will Never Be Realised as long as BN Umno(Old Heads 3rd World Mentality) Is around in Power.
    Swinging of Chinese voters Is Eminent Obviously >>as the BN Govt Only Good Intention is Bribery Nasional
    Umnoputras/Puteries heartedly means to Abused Unlawfull Illegal OPS Lallang to kill INNOCENTS Politicians/Rakyats…Rakyats always expecting govt to care But instead Disciminates, applying Prejudices for Race Bias System in all forms and nature openly visible……>>Bucking the Africa Nations Trend of Tanznia,Malawi Zimbawee etc …
    Thats it…

  12. sammy the dummy will be launching a book soon. BUilding for Dummies.

    Afterall, anything built by Msians if can withstand 1 year is considered damn great already.

    Has anyone checked on the Ijok roads? ANy potholes by now?

  13. Mr. Prime Minister, if you ever get to read :
    1)Please consider well and plan at least 10 years ahead before constructing bridges, roads and infrastructure. Please think disaster and safety measures. Don’t let your kakitangan’s eyeballs blink dollar signs and play corruption games.

    2)Voted by the majority not for minority pockets but to serve the nation. The best leaders are best servants. Hopefully there is change enough to win over many hearts.

    best regards

  14. ///“a study by the Works Ministry last year shows that on the average 85.37 per cent of projects secured by Bumiputera contractors went to the other communities”. ///

    I suppose the number was reduced from 100% to 85.27%. With that reduction, there are many probelms. When that figure gets reduced further, there will be more buildings that would collapse.

    ///Lamenting the outcome of the study, conducted by the ministry’s Entrepreneur Development Division, the prime minister said this not only foiled the government’s desire to empower Bumiputera contractors///

    Well, the government has already empowered the Bumi contractors in making money since only they can get government contracts. If the PM meant to train the Bumi contractor to obtain certificates to grace the wall, then ask Samy Vellu to conduct courses.

    The government cannot have intact buildings and have them built by Bumi contractors. When the Ali-baba system is in full swing, the government can at least be assured of quality buildings with extra costs to feed the NEP parasites. When the government wants to get real that the contracts are to be undertaken wholly by Bumi contractors, then be prepared to see more new buildings collapse.

    There are possibly certain cultural characteristics which might help people of the different communities to excel in certain different occupations. In modern days of specialization, people earn their living from more specialised, or narrower aspects of job functions, but together workers produce final products. It should not the society’s objective that people of different races should be equally involved in all fields of economic activities because that breeds mediocrity.

    In framing the NEP to cover up the cause of May 13, the government said that economic functions and race should be delinked. Under that pretext, ketuanan melayu agenda were carried out beyond UMNO’s wildest dream possible. Over time, UMNO believes its own lies, and chooses to stop the alibaba convenience for easy money. We are only seeing the tip of the NEP iceberg now.

  15. To be fair to SV he was able to do the duties assigned to him.
    I believe during many “piratisation” projects the Works Ministry was simple left out of the loop with tenders being awarded to cronies without proper evaluations.

    I think a few Malaysians will have to die in mishaps before the majority wake up.

    Here is a possible idea on how things work (or don’t work) in Malaysia.
    http://malaysiawatch2.blogspot.com/2007/05/putrajaya-one-possible-solution-to.html

  16. Consider this;

    If a building were to collapse who do you see to make up for the deaths of your loved ones? The contractor, the owner of the building or the government?

    The answer is easy: all of the above.

    Where would the first two be when it occurs if not enjoying their ill gotten gains gambling away and enjoying the style of the rich and the infamous in places like Macao and Hong Kong.

    As for the last, the pro-government judiciary will ensure that it be another case of public interest immunity.

  18. I think SV is really a small component of the blame cycle as projects awarded to cronies do not get evaluated by the Works Ministry.

    We should be asking our MPs to take up the matter unless some of us are prepared to be killed in one of these mishaps like during the next “open house” in Putrajaya.

    This show one example of how things are settled in Malaysia.
    http://malaysiawatch2.blogspot.com/2007/05/putrajaya-one-possible-solution-to.html

  22. The basic problem in Malaysia is that scoundrels of the highest order have never been brought to book in Malaysia and their practices have prospered with succeeding generation of leaders.

    In schools, some people refer to those with umpteen “As” as an example of academic inflation.

    With government policies too, there is an inflation factor – as crimes go unpunished, the criminals plot even bigger heists.
    From mere millions in the early days, it is now worth billions.

    The collapses in Putrajaya are simply a manifestation of the cancer of corruption.
    http://malaysiawatch.blogspot.com/2006/07/ghosts-from-bmf-still-haunt-malaysians.html

  23. The reason for all these diasters is simlpy, corruption. If projects were tendered out to the most capable, these things would not happened. Meanwhile, where were the consultants who designed and supervise these projects after being paid millions? The most amazing thing is that at the end of day, not one person has to answer for it. As for the Works Minister, he act like he work for contractors and developers. In developed countries, he wouldn’t last a day longer as a minister. My question is, how many millions has the rakyat have to bear this time? Most importantly, is there going to be loss of life in the next diaster? Dear PM, it’s about time you fire someone if there is still some decency left in your government.

  24. Should we have skyscrapers ? Do they have earthquake proof materials ? Even Kuala Lumpur experiences some tremors due to an earthquake that happens many miles away. Let’s just say one of these buildings collapses, who is going to answer for all the victims ?

  25. This is not about maintenance, it is poor management of the projects and more importantly giving the project to unqualified people who only have connections and they then ali baba it out for quick bucks. And another issue is there is no punishment for failure, it is not the UMNO/NEP way. And maybe corruption has something to do with it.;)

  26. “The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has called for the Public Works Department to inspect all government buildings nationwide while the Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu has welcomed the call and praised the Prime Minister’s for his wisdom!”

    For the last 3 years of leading,i doubt that the kaki tangan kerajaan has ever listen to Dolah esp, at times of controversal with TDM over who is gaining more from projects. Dolah has lost his Maruah as a PM.
    Besides the government building being collaspe every now and then, the repairing of the roads is also another Pariah procedure that the head of the works ministry does not even bother to examine on the premature damage of the roads.
    Corrupt and corrupt start from the top to the Mandor, do u expect the contractor will provide high quality workmanship when the profit margin is diminishing.
    Lets tell u at one time, i was told that if the road is too well repaired, the contractors ta payah cari makan lagi lah !! mana lagi dapat duit kopi untuk boss2 semua.
    The disease is spreading all over the country, just wait till the oil field is exhausted and the palm oil is replaced by some other means.
    what will be next…….. you answer ok?

  27. PM always say….Mereka cakap cakap saja….. He’s doing it now.

    Pls rest assure of all these problems that start with corruption will end as like unsolved X files.

    Totally no respect to all unqualified Minister.
    What is Samy is saying??.. WTF is praise PM direction? In the first place, It’s his job to ensure this problem from happening not praise the person who remind his what is his daily duties.
    Does he think he will get away with this kind of BS no brainer statement?
    there is lot of exposure which many educated ppl can get information. Pls dont think it’s still the 70-80’s ONLY YOU SAID ERA….

  28. Based on standard building or JKR contracts, we have Defects Liability Period (DLP).Even if the DLP had expired the contractors are still liable especially if work is not carried out according to the specifications or drawings.For e.g if the contractor puts in 10 steelbar of a particular size instead of the 14 bars of another size as shown on the drawings and the particular structure collapse then,his responsibility has got no time frame.So, in the case of the pipe bursting the questions to be asked are :1) whether the pipe conforms to a specified BS standard
    2) was there any pressure test done on the pipes
    In the case of the ceiling collapse it was confirm that the light fittings were not suspended independently to the concrete soffits but were all hung from the suspended ceiling.
    These are so basic questions and if supervision were thorough then these problems will not occur.
    Every project has supervising engineers,supervisors etc.What were they doing or rather not doing.If one were to track back the actual cause of any problems of these kind the answer will be A BIG CORRUPTION.
    Remember the collapse of a huge shopping mall in Seoul,Korea?The cause of it was total GREED !The owner was just adding floor after floor so that he could have more rental space.Another bridge collapse because of inferior concrete materials as the project was subcontracted 9 times done the line.The collapse of a building in Taiwan where the contractor filled concrete structure with empty biscuit tins!
    Talking about the PM’s instruction to inspect all govt buildings.How many qualified people can get invoved?From architects to civil and structural engineers and electrical and mechanical engineers.Logistically, it will take maybe 50Years.Of course by then,no existing leaders will be around.Do we have the human resource and the funds.Again it will come from the taxpayers.The prudent thing to do is to ensure that competent contractors are awarded contracts.NO more cronies,no more corruption in future contracts and AAB will not have these problems anymore or at least during his tenure.
    If no action is taken NOW,something horrible is going to happen and will the people involved able to live happily with their ill-gotten gains. If so, these people will then say that Let God Be Their Witness.Amen

  29. If these people know the meaning of the word “shame” or the word “outrage”, then such things would not have happened. It is the culture of the shameless that causes Bodohland to be the laughing stock of the world. AAB isn’t going to do anything for fear of embarrassing his own people – at least until the view from his bedroom at Putrajaya changes when the ground of his residence starts to shift.

  31. What has happened to the famous Maltrade Building, Jalan Duta?
    Is it another white elephant in creating?
    After hearing and seeing the construction of the building, I dread to go near the building.
    The building looks Good from Far, but, Far from Good.
    No wonder Kak Fidah refused to move in lah.

  32. “ Now I think TDM must thank AAB for scrapping the crooked bridge project and apologise for calling the government HALF-PAST-SIX “ -scooter Says-

    Yes, he and his cronies would say a big THANK YOU; RM 257.4 millions has been paid in compensation of the RM 600 millions crooked bridge which has never been done.

    Whichever way, the cronies rips us off, the tax payers.

  33. mata_kucing Says:
    May 2nd, 2007 at 8:59 pm

    “… if there is still some decency left in your government.”

    what decency?
    the BN, especially UMNO & MIC are now recruiting rempit-thugs and samsengs as their putras to fight (literally!) during campaigns…

    …they are wasting our tax money on either useless projects or extremely poor quality constructions that collapse as soon as they are build/laid…

    …either that, or they are paying compensations

    where is the accountability???
    the whole BN should be removed from govt for malaysia to stand any chance at recovering from the rot we are in at the moment!!

  34. Bottomline….there MUST be accountability for each and every project. Period.

    When something like this goes wrong, someone have to be accountable….where is the charter of each profession in Malaysia? Do we have one??

  35. Since I don’t think I can change the gov’t with some comments here, I would rather suggest this: for safety reason, Dear Gov’t, Please setup a new law to enforce that gov’t building can only be built on the ground floor only, no 1st floor, no upstair, no basement, no hillside, seaside or whatever, to avoid injuring the innocents in case the building collapse. tq

  36. They would not have to waste so much money buidling the SMART Tunnelif the irigation system is properly planned and buildings are built according to a proper masterplan. Oh well duit kopi masuk. Plan approved. Thats y we have floods. All caused by corruption plus discrimination that prevents the capable people from runnig the town council.

  37. This is a real sinful and putried government who will not blink an eye in wasting millions, if not billions of ringgit in substandard infrastructures and unnecessary compensations but will not hesitate to devoid the non Bumis of a small educational loan or scholarship without any valid or good reason whatsoever.

    The day of retribution is near and as what HJ Angus had said “The collapses in Putrajaya are simply a manifestation of the cancer of corruption. Adversely I am not surprised of a manifestation of such disaster. From ceiling collapse to roof collapse and then to entire building before the whole government collapse. By then it might be too late as so many innocent and some not so innocent lives would have been lost.

    Lets hope with this signal they will amend their way. The people of Machap and Ijok cannot make a change but God will be able. “Man propose, God dispose”

    Please Mr PM, citing poor maintenance as the cause is just to cover the footprints of all the misdeeds of your government. And as what Ella Wheeler Wilcox had said and repeated by Abraham Lincoln and also our famous Krismuddin, “You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all the time”.

    However unlike our Krismuddin, Abraham Lincoln went on to say this, ” Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position. Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal”. If racial discrimination is not wrong, nothing is wrong and that is the price you will have to pay if you think nothing is wrong..

  38. “he people of Machap and Ijok cannot make a change but God will be able. “Man propose, God dispose”

    Goddamn it!!

    Leave God alone. Divine intervention comes with a cost. It already cost the Opposition, Machap and Ijok.

  39. Pingback: My DeskBlog » Blog Archive » Shoddy work could be tip of iceberg, says Navaratnam

  40. The Minister Datuk Mohd Khaled and even the PM are clueless, mislead and barking up the wrong tree in blaming the lack of comprehensive maintenance for the mishaps happening in the newly constructed buildings. As correctly pointed out by Transparency International Malaysia president Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam. “There’s too much concern to make a quick buck and too little attention given to professionalism”. Too many contractors are holding fast to the “shoddy culture” and this is happening at every level, from the council, to the City Hall and Ministry level. -“Save Labor, Save Time, Save Materials – More profits” Malaysian Standards in doing jobs. The worst scenario is the sub-sub-contractor who has to resort to this tactic to make SOME profits as the sum given to them is so marginal.

    Look at the shoddy way DBKL contractors are fixing up road signs. Dig a small hole to insert the pipe end and covered ON TOP with cement mixture. You don’t need regular maintenance check that this would fail in a short time. The officer charged with overseeing such jobs are mostly “sleeping on their jobs”. Over here in the capital City, the contractors are allowed to erect WRONG sign post and no body bothers if the job is done properly. On such example a Jalan Setapak road signage is fixed right in the middle of Jalan Pahang. Most of the time contract officers are working in cohorts with the suppliers who seem to dictate the terms and conditions and would assume all the time they are doing the right thing.
    Another aspect many are wondering is why only burst pipes and usually happened overnight in the early hours of the morning. Those who have done a course in Fluid Mechanics would understand, that when water consumption is reduced, water pressure builds up and there is this phenomenon of “water hammering” – vibrations along water pipelines. When the weakest joint or connection fails, you have burst pipes
    More shoddy details and pics at:
    http://powerpresent.blogspot.com/2007/05/more-pics-shoddy-work-save-labour.html

  41. We are watching our own Malaysian Soap Opera conducted by VVIPs. That’s why everything is ‘expensive’. Anyway, they have forgotten their lines along the way. Since we have paid for the tickets, continue with the show or leave for home.

  42. Only one fella can clean up this Malaysian Soap Opera mess—he’s Cho Seung-hui who likes to blast away with his handguns. Unfortunately last month he left for the-big-shooting-range-in-the-sky

  43. “Tip of iceberg? More disastrous public building mishaps to come?”

    true reflection of a leader, four years in office, all cakap cakap sahaja, four years down the road, Ijok Chinese gets cheezed off good, four years down the road, ceiling starts to fall on his head, looks like he’d missed his chance to wake up for good, bye bye BN, you have a real capable leader.

    the irony is that SEMI VALUED wrote a poem a while back praising his boss, now as minister concerned for these screwed up job, wonder will he have the heart to spuned more poems?

    hahaha, toupee, go back to Lunas!

  44. Word is getting out among those foreign brave souls (aka “stupid gullible tourists”) who may tempt fate to set foot in Bodohland. They are cautioned to enter any public buildings and structures at their own risks. They may never emerge in one piece. If I have my druthers I’d be happier and safer visiting Somalia!

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