MRT Corp lodges police report over claims of cracks on guideway
BY NOEL ACHARIAM
Published: 25 July 2015 3:35 PM
MRT Corp director for strategic communications and public relations Mahmood Abdul Razak (centre) showing the police report it lodged at the Travers police station. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Noel Achariam, July 25, 2015.The Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) today lodged a police report over a picture showing an alleged crack on their guideway at the Damansara Puchong Highway(LDP).
The picture has since gone viral on social media.
The report was lodged at 12.30pm at the Travers police station in Kuala Lumpur.
MRT Corp director for strategic communications and public relations Mahmood Abdul Razak said the report was lodged because they were taking the allegations made against them seriously.
"There were posts of the alleged crack circulating on Facebook, Lowyat.net and WhatsApp. Our concern was that there were posts from people who claimed to be experienced engineers who said that the guideway was going to collapse and urged people to stay away from the site," he told reporters outside the police station.
Mahmood said that some of the "experienced engineers" had claimed that they were part of the the MRT project.
"Base on their WhatsApp posts, we have checked and found that there was no such person working with the company.
"They have caused a lot of panic among motorists. We have issued a statement on July 23 when the picture went viral, explaining that the crack was an optical illusion and was actually a seam line of the netting covering the guideway," he said.
Mahmood said that nine names had been given to the police of those who had posted the allagetions and given comments that were false.
"We have identified the people that have shared the posts and we want the police and Malaysian Communications And Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to investigate where the post originated from.
"We are serious about people who spread lies about the project and erode public confidence. We want the public to know that if they make a claim they have to back it up with concrete proof. If the public sees something wrong they should alert us and not make allegations," he said.
Mahmood said this is the first time a police report had been lodged against people who had made false accusations against the MRT project on social media.
"If the public continue to make irresponsible statements then there will be repurcussions. If their actions cause a lot of damage to the brand of our company and effect public harmony then we may take legal action," he said.
Mahmood reiterated that the structure of the guideway was sound and there was no risk of it collapsing.
"We have our standard operating procedures in place, which states that if there is an incident, we will give out a media statement in the first 15 minutes and issue another full statement in 45 minutes. We want to ensure that there are no cracks along the project alignment," he said.
The Malaysian Insider had reported a statement from MRT Corp yesterday which had said that the so-called thick “crack” in the pictures was in fact the joining for two pieces of netting covering the guideway over the LDP.
Mahmood had said the netting was placed there as a precautionary measure because work was still being carried out on the guideway.
“The thick jagged line is actually the joining of two pieces of netting, which were sewn together. It is not a crack in the concrete, as alleged in discussions on social media,” he had said.
Mahmood had advised the public not to be unduly worried while driving beneath the guideway. Motorists should also not slow down to look when driving along the LDP at that location.
“I urge the public not to believe unsubstantiated claims being spread through social media about this,” he had said. – July 25, 2015.
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