LAWAS, 2 Julai: Anggota bomba bertungkus-lumus lebih empat jam untuk memadam kebakaran belukar yang merebak seluas tiga ekar di Kampung Banting di sini, petang tadi.

Ketua Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Lawas, Clarence D.Primus Tiandun berkata, sepasukan anggota membabitkan tiga kenderaan bomba dikerah ke lokasi bagi operasi pemadaman sebaik menerima laporan kecemasan jam 3.18 petang.

Katanya, sebaik tiba, pasukan keluaran operasi mendapati berlaku kebakaran belukar dianggarkan berkeluasan tiga ekar.

“Anggota bertindak memadam kebakaran dengan membuat pemisah api/ penghalang kebakaran menggunakan satu aliran hos sepanjang 60 meter dari jentera tangki sehingga api dapat dikawal dan padam sepenuhnya,” katanya dalam kenyataan hari ini.

Katanya, api terkawal pada jam 6.30 petang dan operasi ditamatkan 10 minit kemudian.

Clarence menasihati orang ramai agar tidak membuat pembakaran secara terbuka dan pihak Lembaga Sumber Asli dan Alam Sekitar (NREB) Limbang boleh mengambil tindakan tegas terhadap perbuatan tersebut.

Katanya lagi, pihaknya sudah membuat laporan kepada NREB Limbang untuk melaksana pemantauan dan penguatkuasaan bagi mengelak berlakunya pembakaran terbuka. -TVS.

I RECENTLY watched the much-anticipated announcement of the Putra Heights pipeline blast inquiry results. I use the word “announcement” very deliberately because that’s exactly what it was: a formality devoid of genuine engagement or any meaningful attempt to help the public understand what really happened. For those of us who tuned in hoping for clarity and closure, we were instead handed a technical monologue wrapped in bureaucratic detachment.

Let’s start with the spokesperson from the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH). He appeared at the podium, presumably with a prepared script in hand, and proceeded to read it out with the energy and conviction of someone reciting terms and conditions for a toaster warranty. His delivery was so saturated with jargon that unless you were a geotechnical engineer or had a PhD in pipeline integrity, you’d be completely lost. Not once did he pause to explain the implications of what he was saying in plain language. This wasn’t a briefing — it was a public relations exercise disguised as a press conference.

Now, let’s talk about the content, or the lack thereof. The results of the inquiry were, frankly, disappointing. According to DOSH, the pipeline failure was due to “movement of soil” and “soft soil conditions underneath the pipe.” This is what I call a textbook case of stating the obvious without saying anything useful. When pressed by journalists to explain what caused this mysterious soil softening — rainfall? leaking water pipes? adjacent construction? a cosmic fluke, perhaps? — the spokesperson side-stepped the question like a seasoned ballroom dancer.

This is precisely where the public’s frustration lies. It’s not that we can’t accept the possibility of soil movement — Malaysia is no stranger to that. It’s the evasiveness in answering the most basic follow-up question: why did the soil move? What led to the weakening of the ground? Who might be responsible for that change in condition?

To pin the entire catastrophe on “soil” without elaborating is not only intellectually lazy, but frankly, insulting. Are we to believe that soil, acting entirely on its own volition, decided one day to sink or shift just enough to rupture a gas pipeline and set off an explosion? If that’s the story, we deserve more than vague descriptions and technical mumbo jumbo. We deserve the truth!

And if the authorities won’t say it, let me venture a theory that’s been circulating among the public for months: Could it be that developments approved too close to the pipeline corridor — housing areas, shop lots, or any recent groundworks — contributed to the soil instability? The pipeline has been there for decades without issue. What has changed in recent years? If there’s been excavation, construction, drainage diversion, or soil compaction nearby, the public has every right to know. If any of these had a role in weakening the soil, then we’re looking not at an unfortunate natural occurrence, but at the consequences of poor planning and oversight.

This selective storytelling reminds me all too well of the Highland Towers tragedy back in 1993 — a national disaster that many of us still remember vividly. There too, the explanation pointed to “soil movement” and “land instability.” But it later became clear that the real issue was water — water redirected, mishandled, and neglected as part of an uphill housing project approved with little regard for environmental consequences. Eventually, that water weakened the slope, leading to the collapse of Block One and the loss of 48 lives.

That tragedy, too, was cloaked in terms like “land failure” and “hydrostatic pressure.” But behind those terms lay a failure of judgment — approvals granted without enough scrutiny, developments permitted too close to danger, and agencies that responded only after disaster struck.

The Putra Heights incident may not have claimed lives, but it could have. And the parallels are too glaring to ignore.

Once again, we have a blast, damage to homes, fear in the community — and a suspiciously tidy conclusion that avoids the real question of how development decisions intersect with safety.

If we keep closing one eye — or both — to the bigger issue of how we allow development near critical infrastructure, this won’t be the last time we see disaster linked to “soil.” Be it on highlands or in dense urban areas, the soil doesn’t just move by accident. It moves when we disturb it. It weakens when we alter its drainage, dig around it, or build on it without understanding the consequences. And those consequences don’t just affect property; they threaten lives.

So to the authorities, if you’re going to hold a press conference, make it worth the public’s time. Don’t hide behind technicalities or feed us half-truths. We’re not asking for miracles — just accountability, transparency, and answers that treat the public with the respect we deserve. – July 3, 2025

PETALING JAYA: Penduduk di Kampung Kuala Sungai Baru mendesak siasatan tragedi le­tupan paip gas di Putra Heights, Subang Jaya pada 1 April lalu dilakukan semula.

Menurut mereka, laporan siasatan itu dan juga keputusan tiada tindakan lanjut (NFA) kerana tiada unsur sabotaj dan jenayah berhubung tragedi tersebut sangat mengecewakan dan menimbulkan lebih banyak persoalan.

Setiausaha Pertubuhan Kebajikan Penduduk Kampung Kuala Sungai Baru (KKSB), Mohd. Badly Nordin berkata, keputusan tersebut juga menafikan hak penduduk untuk mendapatkan keadilan selepas kehilangan harta benda dan mengalami trauma mendalam.

“Ramai tercedera, kehilangan rumah dan masih trauma tetapi kami diberitahu tiada tindakan lanjut. Ini sangat mengecewakan dan seolah-olah menutup terus harapan mangsa,” katanya kepada Utusan Malaysia.

Tambahnya, mangsa terlibat telah melantik peguam bagi tujuan nasihat perundangan dan tindakan susulan, sekiranya masih tiada penyelesaian sewajarnya daripada pihak berkaitan.

“Kami sudah ada peguam yang bersedia membantu dari segi undang-undang, namun buat masa ini kita memberi ruang untuk proses siasatan dan keputusan selanjutnya sebelum mempertimbangkan langkah seterusnya,” katanya.

Pihak Pertubuhan Kebajikan Penduduk KKSB turut mendesak agar siasatan semula dijalankan oleh pihak penyiasat bebas, selain pendedahan penuh hasil teknikal dan forensik dilakukan bagi memberikan keyakinan kepada masyarakat.

Mereka turut menuntut perlindungan undang-undang kepada saksi dan mangsa, serta meminta penjelasan terbuka kerajaan negeri sebagai badan utama pengurusan bencana untuk menjelaskan perkara tersebut secara terperinci.

Dalam masa sama, mereka mahu kerajaan negeri jelaskan secara telus agihan bantuan pembaikan rumah agar tiada ketidakadilan antara perumahan dan kampung yang terjejas.

“Kami lihat agihan tidak seimbang. Penduduk kampung terima jauh lebih rendah. Ia benar-benar menyentuh hati mangsa yang terjejas,” ujarnya.

Justeru pihak Pertubuhan Kebajikan KKSB menyeru Perdana Menteri, wakil rakyat dan NGO bersama penduduk dalam memperjuangkan kea­dilan, kerana keadilan yang ditangguh adalah keadilan yang dinafikan. – UTUSAN

GAS Malaysia Bhd said that full gas supply operations have resumed at the Shah Alam and Batu Tiga City Gate stations, following the lifting of curtailments imposed after a transmission pipeline explosion in Putra Heights, Subang Jaya.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, the utility company said it received official confirmation from its gas supplier that curtailments were lifted on July 1, 2025.

“Gas supply operations have resumed in accordance with the quantities stipulated in the respective Gas Supply Agreements with the customers,” the company said.