At this point, we don’t doubt that you may have probably heard about the Sri Rampai LRT station’s broken escalator, and the ensuing fiasco that its repair contract resulted in. Left in a state of disrepair and neglect for over five years since 2016, the escalator was then fixed and put back into service by a clothing retailer, which led to opposition youth party MUDA questioning its tender process.
Teenager hits emergency stop button on Sri Rampai LRT escalator
Unfortunately, it would seem that bad luck continues to tail after the escalator, as the Kuala Lumpur City Council has just revealed that checks on closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage show that it has allegedly already fallen prey to the antics of vandals just days after it was formally reopened to public use.
In a post that was shared to the organisation’s official Facebook page, a short 18-second clip was uploaded to show what appears to be a teenaged boy taking the stairs down the pedestrian bridge with his friends. However, he was then caught red-handed making a detour for the escalator landing, before reaching out to hit the emergency stop button, causing the escalator to jerk to a complete stop.
“We are not sure what the teenager’s intentions are for doing so, but what he has done is considered to be an act of vandalism. The emergency stop button should only be used in critical moments, and the misusing of the button could lead to breakdowns on the escalator, causing inconveniences to other users.
We hope that we can all share the responsibility of taking care of public facilities together.” they wrote.
Act of vandalism, or concern?
As one can expect, the callous disregard exhibited by the teenager has earned him the ire of netizens on social media, many of whom have condemned him for his ac of vandalism.
“Please take the necessary actions. If no action is taken on the part of the authorities, then incidents like these will just keep happening, until the end of days. The mentality of Malaysians will still be stuck in the Third World.”
“A technician would now have to go through all the trouble of coming on-site just for the sake of switching the escalator back on again. Do you think it’s just a matter of hitting a switch for it to start moving again? If escalators were that easy to just switch on, then where would the safety aspect come in?”
Some netizens have called the boy out for vandalising the escalator. Image credit: Facebook
However, one netizen claims that the video shows the escalator moving in stuttered motions, which may have prompted the teenager to stop the escalator.
“If you look at the escalator’s ascent, it looks as though it was jerking admin. Maybe that’s the reason why he had switched it off. You could check on it’s condition again.
I agree with the suggestions other people have had about installing sensors that can automatically switch the escalator on only when there are people present.”
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