Citizen Awareness Chant Group (Chant) said hearings by the Commission of Inquiry into the Worksite Incident at Tanjung Bungah – formed after the 2017 landslide which killed 11 construction workers – ended a long time ago but its recommendations were yet to be delivered despite a May due date.

Chant spokesman Yan Lee said the findings of the commission would help authorities to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

The call comes after a landslide in Batu Ferringhi on Tuesday killed four Myanmar nationals. The Public Works Departments said it was caused by earthworks carried out by a nearby hotel.

Lee said testimonies to the commission had revealed weaknesses on the part of the Penang Island City Council (MBPP), including a shortage of officers to monitor hill slopes.

Despite this, Lee said MBPP continued to approve projects on sensitive hill areas.

“Naturally, the city council is supposed to check the entire Penang island, but do they have enough people to do so?

“You don’t have the manpower, but you keep approving. Why is that?”

Lee also asked on the status of drones acquired by MBPP.

“With the latest landslide, people are not feeling safe. Can you help us feel safe?” he said.

When contacted, a commission spokesman told FMT that it was in the midst of compiling the submissions made at the hearings before recommendations could be made.

The commission is headed by former Bar Council chairman Yeo Yang Poh, with geotechnical expert Gue See Sew and forensic geotechnical engineer Ramli Nasir as panel members.

On Oct 21, 2017, a 10m-high hill slope came crashing down next to a construction site not far from the Tunku Abdul Rahman College in Tanjung Bungah, killing four Bangladeshis, three Myanmars, two Indonesians, a Malaysian and a Pakistani.