THERE is no cover-up in the investigation into the collision between two Light Rail Transit (LRT) trains on May 24, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong said yesterday.
He said the probe was conducted by the ministry’s investigation committee, therefore it had no authority to apportion blame or pin liability on any party.
“Whatever internal action to be taken against the personnel involved in the incident must be governed strictly by the employment contractual terms signed between the respective personnel and Prasarana,” he said in a statement on Facebook.
“There is no cover-up. The committee is an investigation committee, not an adjudicating body,” he said, adding that it was not set up to be judge and jury.
He also said the ministry had no power to prosecute any case.
Wee said in determining blame and liability, due process of the law should take place to ensure that justice was equally accorded to those responsible for the collision.
“When I ordered the formation of the committee to thoroughly examine the tragic LRT collision, the terms of reference for the committee were to be made clear in its mission. We also want to prevent something like this from happening again,” he said.
Wee said the committee’s role was to determine the factors that led to the incident, and it had completed its task within the time given.
The investigation was done based on facts and analysis of data obtained and/or provided to the committee in a professional manner, with the priority being to ensure the immediate prevention of a similar incident.
“I have also personally visited and called the affected patients… we take what happened to them seriously.
“As I have stated in my media conference on June 10, the 23 recommendations approved by the cabinet were to bring broad changes to Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd’s safety and operative procedures and Prasarana Malaysia Bhd has promised to implement them within the timeline provided.”
On June 10, Wee was reported to have said technical issues
and communication failure between the Operations Control Centre and the hostler were among the factors that led to the collision between the two LRT trains on the Kelana Jaya line on May 24.
He also said proposals presented by the investigation committee involved five recommendations that needed to be implemented within three months, 11 proposals between three months and six months, and seven improvements in more than six months.
In the incident, 47 people suffered serious injuries, while 166 escaped with minor injuries when a train ferrying passengers and a faulty train, which was being test-driven, collided in a tunnel between the Kampung Baru and KLCC stations.-BERNAMA