KUCHING, Jan 26: The state and federal governments should be held accountable for the fire that destroyed 80 per cent of a house at Kampung Sudat here yesterday due to their lack of strong action to ensure fire safety especially in providing the necessary fire hydrant whose absence had hampered firefighters’ efforts.
When alleging this, Abdul Aziz Isa, special assistant to state Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen, pointed out that had the fire hydrant been installed upon request some time last year, the victims would not have suffered such a huge loss and the fire would have been overcome.
He asserted this during a visit to the affected victims (Jan 25) for which Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) chairman Lo Khere Chiang was also present Kampung Sudat village headman (KK) Joseph Rohai had revealed that he had written an official letter to the Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) requesting for the installation of a fire hydrant along Jalan Kampung Sudat.
“As the village headman, Joseph has done his part to do what is necessary within his capacity.
“Therefore, the governments have the duty of care to install a fire hydrant at Kampung Sudat,” Abdul Aziz said in a statement today after presenting donations to the fire victims.
Abdul Aziz who is also DAP Batu Kitang chairman said that the reply Joseph received was that the said department did not have the budget to install the fire hydrant.
However, he added, both Joseph and Bomba should not be blamed for the delayed installation of the fire hydrant, and instead blame should be on the government-of-the-day.
“This is because the government-of-the-day controls all the resources. It is absurd for the government to say they don’t have enough budget to install just one fire hydrant in one village which is located less than five miles from the city centre.
“It is safe to say that the government’s failure to install a fire hydrant at Kampung Sudat is tantamount to breach of duty,” he elaborated.
Abdul Aziz also shared that the villagers had complained of their frustrations with the government for failing to provide such basic necessities for the village, and thus, “they (the government) should not talk so much about having mega projects.”
According to him, when Bomba received a distress call at 3.12pm yesterday and arrived at the scene at 3.22pm, the firefighters had difficulties in locating a fire hydrant.
“They had to run for more than 300 metres to connect the layflat fire hose to a fire hydrant located at the nearest Shell station,” he added.
Now that the house owner had suffered a huge loss, Abdul Aziz said the governments should at least take some initiative to rebuild the house and “failure to act accordingly just shows that the governments are taking the people’s well-being for granted.”
Abdul Aziz said that he will submit an official letter to the Bomba Operational Division as well as the Ministry for Local Government and Housing to push for and expedite the installation of fire hydrants at Kampung Sudat.
Meanwhile, Chong, who is also the Kota Sentosa assemblyman, was present today to hand over some donations to fire victim Jonie Sait.
DAP Stampin Service Centre and DAP Batu Kitang branch also handed over food aid donated by a group of Good Samaritans for the family. — DayakDaily
