For an entire generation, the official stance of Malaysian public service is not for 'civil service', but for "social reengineering". Hence, any semblance of public accountability is given scant attention as appointments are largely race-based (in the name of affirmative action).
An entire generation was raised with this mindset, that there's no need to be accountable, there's no need to work for a living, there's no need to explain, we cannot be wrong and we cannot be questioned.
Today, someone's son, brother and friend died due to this civil service incompetence.
I reproduce the following report from Lim Kit Siang's blog.
Let me remind you, not a single Government official has commented on this sad situation nor made any apologies or any public announcement on improvements. A good annoucement for that week will be a toll increase on Malaysian highways
It is a long story, but here's the gist :
- He dialed 999, itrang until it could not ring anymore. He rang again, again it was not answered, he rang again and passedthe phone to me. Finally someone answered (a man).
- I told him the injuries of the victim hoping he would feel the urgency, instead he wanted to know whether “dia jatuh motor ke…?” (translated : "did he fall of a moped") I told him politely that his question is completely irrelevant and hurry up with the ambulance plus I have to hang up and attend to the victim.
- I waited and called the emergency control center atKlang Hospital at 2.36pm and asked the same guy if anambulance had been dispatched, same answer, “belum”. (translated : "not yet")
- When we arrived at Klang Hospital I had a hard time looking for the staff to bring a trolley to remove the victim from the car. I asked for assistance from two nurses but did not receive a response. I took a trolley and pushed it to the car, suddenly a hospital aide appeared, then another, as we tried to remove the victim's body from the car, it was then that the co-worker who had been cradling the victim in the cars aid that he has stopped breathing.
- I approached him and asked if he was the person who took my calls, he knew my name and I asked him for his, he declined. I asked him why he did not dispatch an ambulance to which he replied something brash
- I asked him if he was happy as the victim was unnecessarily dead and that I am going to ensure tha this lackadaisical attitude to his job was brought to the public attention. I asked him for his name again along with the nurse who was sitting next to him“playing” with the computer
This now is the complete post.
On the 13th of December 2006, at approx 1.30pm a roadtraffic accident involving a driver driving a dark blue proton saga and a highway road sweeper of Malay descent, male, approx mid 20s (the road accident victim).
The location of the accident was about 150 – 200meters from the Batu Tiga toll booth, elite highway inthe direction towards KLIA.
I chanced upon this accident which had just happened while on my way back to work (Ampang via KESAS).
As I approached the accident site it seemed the victim was already dead, the driver who had knocked him down was standing near-by and nobody dared approach to lend assistance to the victim, almost as if this was one time were an invasion of privacy was taboo.
I stopped my vehicle and approached, upon examining the accident victim I found him to be still alive but heavily concussed, his pupils were completely dilated.
Suddenly the victim grabbed my hand and tried with all his might to raise himself to his feet. I tried to calm him and asked by-standers if an ambulance had been called. I was told it had not.
In a firm tone I told the driver of the car that hit the victim to call for an ambulance. He dialed 999, it rang until it could not ring anymore. He rang again, again it was not answered, he rang again and passed the phone to me. Finally someone answered (a man).
I informed him that I am reporting an accident a few hundred meters away from the Batu Tiga Toll in thedirection of KLIA. He asked me my phone number and myname and which hospital was nearest. I gave the info and added that the nearest hospital to deal with this kind of trauma is probably Klang.
At 1.57pm I received a call from 03 3371 7989 the ambulance control center at Klang Hospital. The guy incharge of the control center asked to speak to me and asked for the location of the accident, which I gave adding that the victim was dying and that this was an extreme emergency.
The guy manning the control center did not know my location, so I repeated it clearly and concisely. It seemed that he needed to understand it for himself otherwise he could not pass on the information anddispatch the ambulance. It was a frustrating conversation. I repeated the details of my location and he asked me if I was sure that Klang was the nearest hospital. I repeated firmly, yes!
I told him the injuries of the victim hoping he would feel the urgency, instead he wanted to know whether“dia jatuh motor ke…?” I told him politely that his question is completely irrelevant and hurry up withthe ambulance plus I have to hang up and attend to thevictim.
I called back at 2.06pm to ask if an ambulance had been dispatched. The same guy told me “belum”. He asked me the same questions…I answered them.
I warned him that the next time I make a call will beto the Menteri Besar’s office to complain about his shoddy professionalism, so he’d better send out that ambulance immediately. I called Salamat Dollah at2.08pm and he helped call Klang Hospital on my behalf to request they send out an ambulance immediately.
I waited and called the emergency control center at Klang Hospital at 2.36pm and asked the same guy if anambulance had been dispatched, same answer, “belum”.
He requested me to repeat the accident location again which I did.
This time I told him that he need not understand it just write it down and give it to the ambulance driver along with my hp number.
I waited again. The victim was rolling in pain on the road, his head had a gash about 10cm long on the backof his head, the skin on his head was beginning to peel off. His left leg was completely broken and hanging by the flesh but the main artery was not severed, he was not loosing much blood. His workmate was cradling him in his arms and asking him to mengucap kalimah syahadah.
I tried to stop further damage to his left leg bysecuring it to his right leg. I told the few people around that he is going to die if we don’t get him tohospital. Everyone was reluctant to put him in there car, all kinds of excuses… ada barang, kotor la,berdarah la… Meanwhile the victim was grabbing on to my clothes and body in pain, unable to talk possibly due to his head injury.
Finally the driver who knocked him down allowed us to use his car to send the victim to the hospital. But he was too shaken-up to drive. Another gentleman offered to drive but did not know how to exit the Elite highway to get towards Klang Hospital. I asked him to follow me and so we drove off as fast as we could head towards USJ - Federal Highway – Klang. We had to go through so many toll gates, some paying, some after explaining briefly, let us through.
On the Federal Highway despite our attempts to notify motorist that we were in a state of emergency many blocked our path and only relented to give way when I practically sat on my car horn.
We arrived in Klang and I called the emergency control center guy for directions to the hospital. I was by this time quite distressed and pronounced the name of the hospital wrongly. The guy in the control center told me there was no such hospital in Klang, so I said to him. “Have you sent out an ambulance to the Batu Tiga toll accident site ? No, right? So since you cannot understand were the accident is we are sending the victim to you. This is an emergency can you give me directions to your hospital or not??”
Finally he did.
When we arrived at Klang Hospital I had a hard timelooking for the staff to bring a trolley to remove the victim from the car. I asked for assistance from two nurses but did not receive a response. I took a trolley and pushed it to the car, suddenly a hospital aide appeared, then another, as we tried to remove the victims body from the car, it was then that the co-worker who had been cradling the victim in the car said that he has stopped breathing.
The hospital aides rushed the victim into the A&E room and I followed, as he was wheeled in there was no immediate response from the doctors, it was obvious this young man with his whole life ahead of him had died in the car on the way to the hospital.
I was so angry, my words were simple – “Kecuaian pihak hospital menghantar ambulance membantu mangsa ini telah mengecewakan rakyat.”
The aide asked me to be calm. How could any human being be calm when face with such stupidity and total lack of regard for human life? The aide showed me the IC and asked me to confirm if this was the victim. I confirmed. I briefly saw the name Mohd Yusry and his age was somewhere in his mid- twenties.
As I walked away from the A&E room in disgust I saw the control center. A guy was sitting in it with a female nurse looking at a computer (very close and comfy).
I approached him and asked if he was the person who took my calls, he knew my name and I asked him for his, he declined. I asked him why he did not dispatch an ambulance to which he replied something brash.
I asked him if he was happy as the victim was unnecessarily dead and that I am going to ensure thathis lackadaisical attitude to his job was brought to the public attention. I asked him for his name again along with the nurse who was sitting next to him“playing” with the computer. He refused to give it to me. Feeling very frustrated I called Salamat Dollah and informed him that regretfully the road accident victim a young Malay man had died in the car on the way to the hospital and that no ambulance had been dispatched.
This is not the first time I have called for an ambulance and used the 999 services. Every time I have called for an ambulance it has never arrived, never. Why??
This is the first road accident victim I have helped who has actually died. Everyone else I have helped before this has survived.
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