Press Statement by Charles Santiago in Parliament on Wednesday, 28^th October 2009:

Was cronyism and corruption responsible for the death of Dina Nathan?

One 11-year old student, Dina Deve Nathan, is dead and two others remain missing while I write this statement. News of the collapsed new suspension bridge across Sungai Kampar came as a shock especially in a country which is struggling to come to terms with 16 National Service camp deaths since its inception in 2004.

What is even more disturbing is the revelation made by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin who said the bridge was a contribution to the district education office by a company.

This reeks of cronyism and corruption. We all know what "contribution" means. The construction company is either re-paying for a lucrative contract awarded by some ruling politician by building a shoddy bridge. Or the contract was awarded to an irresponsible company, through crony connections.

The web of hushed deals and political business arrangements has resulted in the death of a young girl. I hope the two other children are found alive and safe.

Muhyiddin said he is unsure if the bridge was faulty or whether it was built according to regulation and following standard specifications. The 50 metres long bridge, built two weeks ago, appeared to have been torn out of the ground. This is in itself telling.

The deputy premier has said that those responsible for the collapse of the bridge would be brought to book. We will hold him to his words.

I support the emergency motion filed in Parliament by my colleague and DAP lawmaker for Ipoh Barat, M Kula Segaran, to debate on the fatal incident.

I hope this motion would not be rejected as the emergency motion moved last year to debate on the deaths in National Service camps.

Although Muhyiddin has promised an in-depth investigation into the accident, I call for the information to be made public as no data about the cases of deaths at the National Service camps was made available to the people. The lack of accountability on the part of the government should not be a precedent.

Lastly I offer my deepest condolences to Dina Deve Nathan's family and hope that such untoward incidences would not happen in the future at both the National Service and 1Malaysia camps.

* Charles Santiago, Selangor DAP Vice Chairman & MP for Klang