Security seems to be at stake

JAKARTA (JP): The telephone rang at 5 a.m. but I didn't answer it. I'd had a hard night and was so sleepy it would take Arnold Schwarzenegger to lift my eyelids.

But the caller didn't give up. On the 25th ring I gave in and staggered to the living room, muttering an oath. The caller must have been nuts.

"Who got killed?" I asked, thinking that nobody would dare wake me up if it wasn't big news.

"A young girl has been raped and killed."

"Is she your wife?" I asked absent-mindedly.

A long pause.

"Have you been drinking Bloody Marys again?" the caller asked worriedly.

Then it dawned on me. The only person who knows about my former addiction to drinks such as Bloody Marys is my oldest son. "C'mon, you know I stopped drinking alcohol ages ago. Hang up, I need some sleep," I scolded him.

"Has anybody told you that you're insensitive? A young lady has been raped and killed, and you're talking about the need to sleep."

"What's so magic about it? Rape and murder happens as often as you blink your eyes these days."

That did it. My son hung up after he muttered a "You're right as rain, Dad."

The next phone call came from Ipung, my best friend who is a policeman, advising me that yet another accident had happened, this time on the Jagorawi toll road and 31 people had been killed.

"So what else is new?" I asked. "Highways have turned into some kind of killing fields."

"Why are you so sarcastic? It was an accident," he shrieked.

"Oh, sure. And please, remind me to tell that to the driver who reckon is said to have been on drugs when he was driving the bus. That will console him."

"Hey, what are you so mad about?" he asked.

Oh, I was mad, and I still am. Security seems to be at stake each minute these days. People can be raped, robed or killed just like that. Either by drunks, in car accidents or by human error.

Talking about human error, in most cases it becomes obvious that something is unsafe when it causes fatalities. Just like the bus accident. It later dawned on everyone that the bus didn't have an emergency door. Even if it had, it seems the passengers wouldn't have realized where it was because when the fire erupted they rushed to the front door and got stuck in the middle of the inferno. Now people have realized the importance of emergency doors on buses.

The same goes with the Grogol overpass accident which claimed three lives. If the statement of some officials are true, the newly-constructed bridge collapsed because the workers were instructed to undo the bracings earlier than scheduled. Again, it was human error.

The most recent accident occurred at Bogor's Pasar Kembang market. A raging fire killed at least 10 people. Again, it was realized too late that this shopping center did not have adequate fire protection. There were also insufficient fire hydrants so that the fire trucks had to take water from a faraway river.

It's only now that there is talk about the safety of the building. Why only now? Had the administration acted before the accident, things could have been different.

What next?

A lot of accidents will happen if nothing is done to prevent them. I suggest that checks be done on multiplexes, conference rooms, playhouses and the like to find out if their fire safety systems measures and emergency exits are adequate.

Especially in multiplexes. I often gripe about the narrow hallways which six or eight theater exits can open into. I can well imagine what would happen if a fire occurs at the entrance of a multiplex and people from all the theaters rush out for safety. But, since I gripe about it without the support of research nobody listens. Why should they? But c'mon! Must we wait for another disaster before a team is set up to research the safety of buildings in the country? We've got to do it NOW!.

-- Carl Chairul