In Kuala Lumpur

A WEEK has passed since last Saturday's Bukit Antarabangsa landslide, which killed four people and made some 5,000 homeless.

But the dust is yet to settle in this upmarket hilly residential area, some 10km east of Kuala Lumpur.

Rescue workers, including those from the police and military, are still at the disaster scene to help clear the debris, and even carrying out the belongings of residents from huge mattresses to all sorts of other items, even as police are boosting security around the affected area.

But in the aftermath of the disaster also comes the inevitable finger-pointing over who or what caused this latest disaster in an area notoriously prone to landslides.

Residents have said that they plan sue the local authorities. They say that there were warning signs but their complaints fell on deaf ears and went unheeded.

The government is trying to make amends and said it may consider paying compensation for the victims.
On the day the disaster struck, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said there should be no more hillside projects and that existing ones should be reviewed.

But survivors of past tragedies said they had heard it all before from previous leaders. But everything would be forgotten in a few months.

Politics had then quickly taken over the tragedy.

The frontpage headline of a major mainstream newspaper here on Tuesday blared "So Who Takes The Rap?" and placed big photos of former Selangor menteri besar Khir Toyo (from Umno), next to current Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim (from the federal opposition party PKR, which now controls Selangor as part of a coalition).

The politics of the issue has even been pushed into the blogosphere, with photos of concerned politicians from both sides of the political divide seen visiting Ground Zero of the landslide and offering aid to victims.

Such photos, which have been uploaded on popular networking sites like Facebook, show leaders helping to carry out victims or just visiting the sites with worried looks on their faces.

Supporters of the ruling coalition and opposition alike question each other's sincerity or lack of it during the disaster.
There have also been unconfirmed rumours that some rescue workers refused to search for some victims and that some even looted the houses of the victims, drinking their expensive wine and smoking their cigars.

Some residents have even allegedly complained that the surrounding area has been turned into a "carnival-like" atmosphere with rescue workers being feted by hotels and mamak (Indian Muslim) restaurants who have donated plenty of food for the workers and the stranded residents.

But complaints aside, it is clear that the time has come for the authorities to bite the bullet and take real action to prevent further landslide tragedies.

Observers say there have been too many such tragedies in the same area already, even after the first, and the worst, one of the infamous Highland Towers collapse which killed 48 people in 1993.

But will enough action be taken?

And when will the demand for hillslope homes, with views-to-literally-die-for, stop?

Otherwise, it seems almost likely that deadly landslides will keep on happening, especially in Bukit Antarabangsa and the surrounding belt.

It has been 15 years since the Highland Towers tragedy.