Yesterday (November 8) saw yet another round of major disruptions to the LRT as Malaysians were left lost and stranded often with no other means of transport.
Early this morning (November 9) at 5:48 am, RapidKL announced that a total of 16 LRT stations on the Kelana Jaya line will be closed from 9 till 15 November 2022.
Posted by Rapid KL on Tuesday, November 8, 2022
In a press conference just now at 10:30am, Prasarana Group Chief Executive Officer Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah explained the reasons behind the disruptions yesterday as well as the closure of the LRT stations.
“This is a serious matter that has never been seen before.”
He also apologised on behalf of Prasarana and RapidKL for the disruptions and said that they are looking into how they can compensate and refund passengers who have been affected by the disruptions.
Calling for their heads
Despite the press conference, it appears that a huge number of Malaysians would like to put pressure on Prasarana’s Board of Directors and key leaders to resign and to change the leadership of Prasarana.
An online petition titled ‘CHAIRMAN, PGCEO AND CEO OF PRASARANA TO STEP DOWN’ has been steadily gaining traction.
Among those whom they are calling to resign include:
- Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim, Chairman,
- Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah, President & Group CEO,
- Dr Prodyut Dutt, Group COO (Strategy and Development),
- Amir Hamdan, CEO of Rapid Rail.
In the petition’s description, it read, “On 8 November 2022, LRT Kelana Jaya line faced with service disruption and thousands of commuters were stranded at LRT stations and inside the LRT itself for few long hours during peak time.”
“No proper communication was made by the team at MyRapid and no update was given until it caused a roar of anger among commuters on Twitter and only they decided to update, however, with no justifications nor clarifications made on to the cause of the disruption.”
The petition also stated that right before the peak time, RapidKL decided to pull down all shutters at LRT stations and shut down the service with no communication being made prior which they said caused severe anxiety and distress to thousands of commuters from all group age including senior citizens.
“With the inconsistent schedules, poor infrastructure and bad turnaround time, the lives of thousands of commuters were impacted badly, causing distress, sufferings, anxiety, time loss, money wasted and not to mention mental pressure,” it added.
They also said that the closure of the stations has caused great impact to commuters who are relying solely on LRT to commute to work from home and some to universities, colleges and schools.
“This petition is a call to action for the abovementioned names to step down from their positions and to reimburse RM50 under the My50 programme to all commuters affected as well as to provide one month of free pass to all Malaysians.”
As of the time of writing, the petition has garnered over 1,523 signatories.
Will you be signing the petition? Do you agree with the demands?
