Road carnage - disappeared from Abdullah’s radar screen in his last 100 days as PM

(Lim Kit Siang) The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is in his last 100 days as the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

His silence and indifference to the latest road carnage in the express bus North-South Expressway (NSE) crash in Tangkak which killed 10 and injured 14 on Sunday, taking place in his last 100 days as PM, is in sharp and sad contrast to his anger and outrage at the Jalan Kuala Lipis-Marapoh three-vehicle accident which killed 14 on 30th November 2003 during his first hundred days as PM.

This also signifies another major failure of Abdullah with regard to his First-Hundred-Days-as-PM pledges– to end the road carnage on Malaysian roads.

I can still remember Abdullah’s furious and emotional outbursts five Novembers ago, when he expressed his frustration and upset at the number of road fatalities recorded under Ops Sikap V, with 25 road deaths on the first day of Hari Raya and the death toll which rose to 104 in the first six days of Ops Sikap V.

Malaysians were told in Abdullah’s First 100 Days, that the road carnage which claimed over 200 lives in every15-day Ops Sikap operation before a national festivity was unacceptable and that new rules and regulations would be introduced to end the road carnage in the country.

Five years down the road, the authorities have claimed as a “resounding success” the latest Ops Sikap VII for this year’s Hari Raya holidays covering the 15-day period from Sept. 24 to Oct. 8 although the fatalities numbered 208, 17 fewer deaths compared to last year’s Hari Raya Aidilfitri festivities – which also marked the disappearance of the road carnage problem from the radar screen of the departing Prime Minister and his Cabinet!

Will Datuk Seri Najib Razak take on board the serious menace of road carnage in his first 100 days when he takes over as Prime Minister in March and ensure that this time, there would be effective Prime Ministerial leadership and concrete results to break the back of the grave problem of road carnage not only during national holidays but all-year-round?