Tuanku Mizan upset with stadium incident, says MB

Sunday June 7, 2009
Tuanku Mizan upset with stadium incident, says MB
By R.S.N. MURALI

KUALA TERENGGANU: Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin is disappointed over last Tuesday’s roof collapse of the stadium in Gong Badak named after him.

Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said, who sought an audience with the King to brief him about the mishap, said Tuanku Mizan was unhappy with the incident.

Ahmad met Tuanku Mizan on two occasions, once on the same day the mishap occurred; and again Friday when he produced photographs of the devastation at the stadium.

“His Highness seemed sad and disappointed over the mishap,” he said after accompanying police on a crime prevention round at the city centre on Friday night.

Tuanku Mizan had opened the RM300mil stadium, with a seating capacity of 50,000 on May 10 last year — just weeks before Terengganu hosted Sukma 2008.

The stadium is touted to be the biggest in the east coast and was the first in Asia to be equipped with a roof shaped like a turtle.

Ahmad said Tuanku Mizan was also upset with the extent of damage at the stadium.

He said the state is willing to make public the outcome of the probe conducted by Public Works Department.

“We will release the final report so that those responsible (in the construction and maintenance) will not be able to repeat such blunder.”

Ahmad said the state is ready to help the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in its probe into the collapse.

“So far, the commission has not contacted me or my officers on this, but we will be transparent and divulge all crucial information regarding the stadium if we are asked to do so.”