Lamentable comedy of errors
FOUR breakdowns in 18 months. The Penang Hill Corporation (PHC) really needs to buck up, there's no two ways about it.
Penang Hill is an integral part of the state's tourism allure and failure to ensure sustainable development, proper management and effective promotion of the attraction is inexcusable.
On May 3 last year, a stray dog hit a sensitive component of the coach and a month later, an electrical glitch brought the popular tourist attraction to an unceremonious halt.
The A-G Report 2011 had recommended that the Tourism Ministry and Public Works Department (PWD) take action against PHC for its failure to carry out scheduled maintenance and just as everyone was ready to move full speed ahead, Nov 15 and Nov 22 this year saw two more service disruptions which PHC described as "isolated and normal cases" in the transport industry.
In their reaction to the A-G report, the PHC management retorted that the audit was conducted a mere 11 days after they received the operations manual from the PWD while a broken axle bolt and power pick-up failure were cited as the reasons for the latest breakdowns.
The Nov 15 malfunction was particularly alarming as it left some 1,000 holidaymakers stranded atop the hill for up to four hours.
A local who was affected described the situation as "lamentable" and a case of "gross professional neglect".
The senior citizen said hungry children were crying around him and visitors who had flights to catch were panicking.
"Some people were feeling faint and a minor fracas broke out as no one knew what was going on.
"One public announcement was made at 7.45pm but the line at the station was so long that it stretched right up to the food pavilion area and many could not hear anything.
"I saw some PHC staff members who were just too inexperienced to handle the pandemonium.
"There should have been senior officers with loud hailers to calm the crowd down and keep us informed of the latest situation," he shared.
The question that begs asking is whether the PHC even has a proper emergency response plan in place and if so, why was there chaos every time there's a service disruption?
Surely common sense measures like having an emergency response team on hand to deal with an impatient crowd would have prevented a tense situation from escalating.
The PHC should have carried out simple measures such as mobilising jeeps from the hill's residents and various government departments to ferry stranded visitors who need to get down urgently, handing out bottled water and buns to those affected, updating them on the situation, handing out complimentary train tickets for their next visit and of course, apologising unconditionally – it's public relations 101, really.
Passengers deserve an unqualified apology for PHC's poor handling of the situation.
No doubt the majority of us are not in any position to comment on disruptions caused by technical issues but it is obvious that PHC had failed to manage the situation.
In May last year, PHC director Datuk Lee Kah Choon had promised that the corporation would improve crowd control at the funicular train bottom station after some 10,000 people swamped the area leading to a chaotic situation on Labour Day.
PHC had been caught off guard by the huge holiday crowd.
A visitor even fainted on that day after waiting for several hours under the blazing hot sun while the area's residents complained of vehicles parked haphazardly in front of their homes.
In March this year, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who is also PHC chairman, announced former Langkawi Cable Car operations head Maklen Ali's appointment as general manager, replacing Lee.
Expectations were high as Maklen, in Lim's words, had "extensive experience".
Maklen started his career with Telekom and was involved in the copper cable and optical fiber system telecommunication project implementation in Sarawak before guiding Langkawi Cable Car to achieving commendable results — an impressive feat considering that cable car visitors number more than 700,000 per year.
Unfortunately in Penang, Maklen has failed to deliver.
Journalists who tried to get information from him during the recent service disruptions claimed that he was difficult to reach and not exactly forthcoming. There's no denying that Maklen's post is a hot seat but really, if you can't take the heat, then get out of the kitchen.
Barisan Nasional leaders have since appealed to Lim and Bukit Bendera MP Liew Chin Tong to intervene as PHC had failed to carry out its responsibilities satisfactorily.
Air Putih Barisan Nasional co-ordinator and state MCA Bukit Bendera division chief Tang Heap Seng and Bukit Bendera Barisan co-ordinator Hng Chee Wey did not mince their words when they called on the corporation to buck up.
Since the new train service was launched on April 25, 2011, after a RM73mil upgrade funded by the Tourism Ministry, passenger complaints have been fast and furious.
While many praised the two new air-conditioned Swiss funicular coaches, complaints about poor crowd management were aplenty.
Less than a month since the service resumed after being closed for a year for refurbishment, visitors lamented that information on the train's boarding time was sorely lacking.
Most recently, S. Sundareson wrote to The Star expressing his disappointment at the poor management, calling it a "big letdown".
He said passengers during the Deepavali holidays had to queue for almost an hour to purchase tickets as there were only two counters. There were no fans in the temporary canopy shelter and neither were there any chairs or benches, he said.
He said it was sad that PHC was still relying on old management tools.
He is right.
A recent check by The Star showed that while the funicular railway has resumed its normal service, visitors interviewed are still concerned.
That's the thing with public perception — it takes time to build a good image but only a split second to ruin it. A foreign tourist stuck on the hill simply has to snap a photo on his smartphone and post it up on Facebook or load a video on YouTube for the chaos to go viral.
Penang cannot afford that kind of bad press especially after Lim declared that tourism would be among the main drivers of the state's economy in the coming years.
-The STAR-
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