Stop rubber stamping!

> Check building plans properly, Board of Engineers Malaysia urged

GEORGE TOWN: The Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) has been urged to stop “rubber stamping” building plans and technical drawings.

The recommendation was made by the Commission of Enquiry (COE) formed to probe the collapse of the Menara Umno fin wall and the entry ramp of the Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah Bridge in 2013, said Penang housing committee chairman Jagdeep Singh.

It called on BEM to address any shortcomings in regards to the checking of such plans and not to sign off on them without proper checks.

“The process to ensure the safety of buildings and structures cannot be carried out by rubber stamping,” the COE finding on the matter read.

Jagdeep said he was appointed to lead a committee to implement the COE’s recommendations on the two infrastructure failures.

The others in the committee are Penang welfare, environment and caring society committee chairman Phee Boon Poh; works committee chairman Lim Hock Seng; Islamic religious affairs committee chairman Datuk Abdul Malik Abul Kassim and State legal advisor Datuk Aliza Sulaiman, he told a press conference yesterday.

Other recommendations are: urging BEM to review work done on temporary weight bearing structures and to take disciplinary action against its members identified in the COE report which was released on Monday.

The bridge incident on June 6, 2013, resulted in the death of former policeman Tajudin Zainal Abidin, 45, while the June 13, 2013 Menara Umno incident caused the death of economy rice seller Lim Chin Aik, 44, and lorry driver Jahir Hussain Sulaiman, 46.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng in the same function handed a copy of the report to Lee Chai Song, 50, the wife of Chin Aik, and said the state was prepared to assist the family if they decided to take legal action against those identified in the report as responsible for the incident.

Chai Song, when approached, said she will have to seek legal advice first before deciding, while Chin Aik’s brother Khung Ling, 45 , also expressed the same.