Armed Forces to explain soon over breakdown of vehicles

FOLLOWING negative comments over viral videos of breakdowns suffered by vehicles owned by the Malaysian Armed Forces, its public relations department says it will issue a statement to explain the situation to the public soon.

"We have drafted a statement and are awaiting approval for its release," said the spokesman.

ALSO READ: Tank used for Merdeka parade rehearsal breaks down on Jalan Damansara

On Friday (Aug 26), a tank broke down along Jalan Damansara, at the slip road near Carcosa Seri Negara to Kuala Lumpur Sentral, blocking the middle lane and causing a traffic crawl.

On Saturday (Aug 27), videos of a low loader stalled in front of the National Museum again went viral.

In the video, a group of soldiers was seen peering at the vehicle’s engine as if figuring what had caused it to stall.

Social media users expressed their dissatisfaction over what was perceived as poor maintenance of vehicles on the army’s part.

It also raised concerns on the state of the country’s defence system.

However, a check with DBKL’s Kuala Lumpur Control and Command Centre showed that unlike the first breakdown involving the tank, the second one involving the low loader was an uneventful one.

"We didn’t receive any complaints from the public in regards to traffic congestion. The incident was handled within a short time," said a DBKL spokesman.

DBKL explained that as part of the Merdeka parade rehearsal exercise, it had announced that the Jalan Damansara road will be closed from 7am to noon from Aug 26 to Sept 2.

"On Friday, because it was a working day, the tank breakdown did cause a lot of inconvenience to motorists. But today, the roads involved had been cordoned off and traffic was diverted," she said.