Entangled in killer red tape

COULD four Sabahan lives have been saved if MERS999, the Malaysian emergency response services number, had not been centralised?

It is debatable, but being familiar with the geography of Sabah, Sarawak, or Kelantan could mean the difference between life and death.

In 2008, MERS999 introduced standard operating procedures (SOPs) with five agencies: Royal Malaysia Police, Fire and Rescue Department (commonly called Bomba), Health Ministry, Civil Defence Department, and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.

The objective of MERS999 is to make security and safety more accessible with the concept of “1Malaysia, 1Number” that consolidates previously different emergency numbers in the different states into a single convenient number, 999.

On Sept 8, 2021, in Sabah, four family members were killed when their house caught fire; it was located in Taman Hungab, Donggongon, in Penampang district.

The deaths raised the question of whether Bomba can respond quickly and efficiently enough as calls are directed to Kuala Lumpur first before being redirected to the station nearest the emergency.

Matthew Wong, 50, his wife Jecky Vun Kon Fong, 47, and their two children, Brandon, 18 and Eric, 15, perished in the 2.30am blaze.

The Daily Express, an English-language newspaper in Sabah, reported the following timeline:

> 2.48am – Neighbours alert MERS999 upon noticing one of the victims flashing a torchlight and screaming for help. Anson Chai, 20, called MERS999 and was frustrated when the operator began asking many questions because they did not know where Penampang or Donggongon was. Chai then suggested the operator ask Penampang Bomba or police to call him on his handphone.

> 2.52am – 11 officers, two vehicles, and an emergency rescue medical service vehicle were deployed to the scene, said Senior Supt Hamsa Isnurdini, head of Fire and Rescue in Sabah (Zone I: Kota Kinabalu), later.

> 3.04am – Even though Bomba and the police had called Chai, no help had arrived, so he made another call.

“Shortly after that, we heard the siren but there was still no sign of them. That’s when a neighbour staying opposite decided to drive to look for the firemen based on the sound of the siren, and they finally found the location,” Chai was quoted as saying.

Daily Express reported that the fire engine had gone to Penam-pang Baru, a few kilometres away.

> A little after 3am – Fire-fighters finally arrived at the scene even though the station was only a kilometre away and there was no traffic at that hour.

> 3.40am – The fire was brought under control.

On Sept 11, 2021, after an investigation and postmortem of the incident, Sabah Fire and Rescue Director Senior Assistant Fire Commissioner Md Ali Ismail said the MERS999 call centre in Melaka received four calls (there are three call centres throughout Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, and Melaka).

Md Ali explained the procedure: Call centre staff obtained four basic pieces of information, the caller’s name, telephone number, type of emergency, and incident address. The information was then channelled through the computed-aided dispatch system to Bomba’s operations centre, then Sabah, and then the Penampang Fire and Rescue Station, which recorded the information as received at 2:52am; a team was then mobilised.

There are other deaths that my fellow Sabahans think could have been avoided if the territory has its own call centre like Sarawak does.

Last week, Daily Express chief editor Datuk James Sarda called to ask me to highlight the matter in Sunday Star, a national newspaper.

“There is no logic in centralising the emergency call system unless there was an ulterior political motive in reminding Sabahans and Sarawakians subtly that even during emergencies, they are little children and have to turn to KL for help,” he said.

Sarda continued: “As it turned out, this policy was agreed to by a submissive state government then, and see what happened: An entire family got burned to death because precious seconds were wasted in referring the matter to KL. Worse was that the call centre in KL gave the firemen the wrong location.

“Fortunately, Sarawak rejected this policy, saying Sarawakians know Sarawak better. This is also why, generally speaking, Sabahans have little respect for Sabah’s leaders,” he said.

Sarda argued that there is an opportunity now for the Madani government to review this policy and save future lives.

“Current Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor also wanted the ruling scrapped but was rejected by an Umno minister heading the Multimedia Ministry then,” he said.

Sarda is not alone in his concern.

In September 2021, former chief minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal questioned why the MERS999 calls of Sabahans facing life or death situations had to be channelled to KL first.

“This is appalling. When we want to build a nation, it is not just about the equal distribution of wealth but also all the services that you render,” he said.

“We had a situation that morning when the Bomba was hardly five minutes from the house that was on fire. Yet members of the public had to refer the matter to KL first.”

Mohd Shafie added, “What exactly do you mean by independence for Sabah?”

Back then, Sabah Progressive Party deputy president Edward Dagul said the Fire and Rescue Department and other emergency services should stop referring to Kuala Lumpur or Putrajaya headquarters to handle emergencies. “How can we expect the person answering the call in Putrajaya to know the location in Sabah?” he asked.

On May 4, 2022, Sabahans expressed anger with the MERS999 service again after a 53-year-old man died in his car while waiting for an hour for the ambulance to arrive.

Lew Kok Fai’s car swerved and slammed into a concrete fence near Taman Nelly in Kolobonga in Kota Kinabalu. At 12.03pm, a witness dialled 999 from his mobile phone, but the ambulance only arrived at about 1.10pm.

More voices nowadays are being raised in the call for Putrajaya to honour all of Sabah’s rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963. Adding to the voices will be those demanding Sabah gets its own 999 call centre. Sabahan rights – and lives – matter.