Kota Kinabalu, 6 May 2022
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) renewed its call to the government to set up its own call centre for Sabah to ensure fast and efficient response in emergency situations.
Presently, calls to the MERS999 system of Sabah is being relayed to the KL before it is delivered to Sabah authorities. MERS999 includes 5 departments like the Police, Fire & Rescue Department (Bomba), Malaysia Civil Defence Force (APM), Hospital and Maritime.
“This is a ridiculous situation as though Sabahan lives don’t matter,” said SAPP vice president Gee Tien Siong.
He said that the recent case of Lew Kok Fai, 54, who died after an accident in Kolombong, could have been saved if not for the delay in help due to the slow response from the call centre in KL. Unnecessary time was wasted and as a result a life had been lost.
Gee mentioned that SAPP deputy president Edward Dagul had made a call in September 2021 for a stop to emergency calls diverting to KL which was ridiculously impractical and slow. Edward had said that the lives of 4 family members who were burnt to death in Taman Hungap Penampang at the time could have been avoided if not for the miscommunication and the precious minutes or seconds lost in dealing with MERS 999 based in KL.
Gee said that it is necessary for the Sabah government set up its own emergency call centre to deal with these emergencies so as to avoid the response delay, confusion and miscommunication crucial in saving lives.
“Let us not allow the loss of lives to occur repeatedly due to the inefficiency of the system.
“If the authorities fail to prioritize the lives of Sabah. SAPP will resort to further political action and legal action to compel the authorities to have an efficient local emergency call centre for the people in Sabah and manned by Sabahans who are familiar with the local geographical location,” Gee said.