The fall of the massive Sarawak flag, ‘Ibu Pertiwi’, into the Sarawak River last Monday was not anticipated in the standard operating procedures (SOP) of the Kuching North City Commission (DBKU), said Datuk Abdul Rahman Junaidi.
The state deputy minister of utility and telecommunication explained that the incident was caused by strong winds and a storm, which resulted in the flag’s cable breaking and the flag tearing.
“This incident was not within our decision or part of our SOP that one day the flag will fall off, so it was not in our plans.
“It happened due to strong winds and the storm on that day, and it was found that the flag fell because the cable snapped and it also tore,” he said.
To prevent similar incidents in the future, he said a new SOP has been implemented, requiring the flag to be replaced on the same day or within 24 hours.
“The replacement flag is of higher quality, and the cable has been reinforced for added durability,” he added
Sarawak is full of Dayak folk who know how to manage structures that accommodate often violent tropical storms. Perhaps the minister should have consulted them?
If he is inviting further suggestions, how about taking the obvious basic precaution of lowering the flag when bad weather is expected and making that part of his SOP?
This would save on (very expensive) flags and it would prevent the danger presented by a ruptured steel cable which could then be secured properly.
Let’s just hope that Southeast Asia’s tallest flagpole was erected with one crucial fact of life in mind, namely global warming?
This scientific inevitability, which will wreak its worst consequences on equatorial countries, dictates that thanks largely to the destruction of Sarawak’s own tropical jungles, storms are going to get worse, especially in Sarawak.
So, was this vanity erection designed to withstand storms double the force of the present typhoons or is it due, some not far off day, to come crashing down on the state parliament of idiots who sanctioned the logging licences and approved the flagpole?
The fall of the massive Sarawak flag, ‘Ibu Pertiwi’, into the Sarawak River last Monday was not anticipated in the standard operating procedures (SOP) of the Kuching North City Commission (DBKU), said Datuk Abdul Rahman Junaidi.
The state deputy minister of utility and telecommunication explained that the incident was caused by strong winds and a storm, which resulted in the flag’s cable breaking and the flag tearing.
“This incident was not within our decision or part of our SOP that one day the flag will fall off, so it was not in our plans.
“It happened due to strong winds and the storm on that day, and it was found that the flag fell because the cable snapped and it also tore,” he said.