Court Complex In Ankle-Deep Water (...sort of)

I was at the JDCC (Jalan Duta Court Complex) yesterday when it happened. When I entered the cafeteria at Basement 1, I knew immediately what had happened. A horde of janitorial workers armed with squegee brooms and wet vacuum clears gave it away. Tell tale signs of a'clean-up' as opposed to cleaning. Also, tell tale signs that the RM290million building is not free from 'teething' problems yet, midly put. It was amusing observing the court reporters and cameramen going after the officials to get a comment, with a pissed off security guard expelling verbal abuse at the journalists...all because of a faulty pipe...

So, who does the blame go to? The Public Works Department? The contractor?

I quote a caption of what was reported on StarOnline today:

"Public Works Department (PWD) director-general Datuk Dr Judin Abdul Karim said the incident was caused by a pipe end cap at a T-joint.

“The end cap was made of UPVC material which is different from the T- joint which was made from ABS class 15. The end cap has been replaced with an ABS elbow class 15 as per the original specification,” he said in a written statement. "

What is "as per the original specfication" supposed to connote? You mean to say that the contractor was cutting costs and profiteering from installing materials not of specification earlier? You mean to say that the inspections did not reveal any unspecified construction?

Also reported in the same article:

"The nightmare for the new court complex began on April 30, just before the official opening on May 3, when two ceiling panels collapsed together with some lights.

Less than a week after that, cracks measuring at least 3m long began appearing outside Magistrate's Court 4. A check by The Star yesterday revealed that the cracks have since been patched up.

On May 7, the air-conditioning in one of the High Courts malfunctioned, while on May 9 the entire complex experienced a blackout, resulting in several cases being postponed."

Talk about a series of unfortunate events....it's a miracle no one has gotten hurt so far.

I had a chat with my god-brother Simon Hong in the afternoon (also a fellow lawyer) and he raised a pertinent point....what of the safety of lawyers and judges? Is there going to be an incident some advocate gets felled with a part of the building or some judicial officer dissappearing during a hearing from collapsing chambers? Seems to me that these few incidents will eventually escalate into incidents which would attract liability ...only time will tell...

Now, I'm thinking of going to Court with a hard hat ....