22/05/2026

FRIDAY | MAY 22, 2026

5

Border agency to build up manpower before July 1

‘Improve road safety for students’

Ű BY T.C KHOR newsdesk@thesundaily.com

PETALING JAYA: Schools can no longer treat roads outside their gates as someone else’s responsibility, road safety experts say, warning that outdated school environments are putting children at growing risk amid worsening traffic conditions. Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research chairman Wong Shaw Voon said many older schools, once located along quieter roads, are now surrounded by busy trunk routes due to rapid urban development. He said schools often regard areas outside their compounds as beyond their jurisdiction, despite students continuing to face danger the moment they leave school grounds. “Schools, parents and authorities must work together to identify traffic risks and improve safety around schools,” he told theSun. Wong said separating pedestrian and vehicle movements remains one of the most effective ways to reduce school-zone crashes, although implementation is often constrained by space, cost and existing road layouts. “The roads may have been small when the schools were first built, but over time many have developed into major roads with much heavier traffic,” he said. “However, there are constraints such as space, cost and even the local context.” Wong said interactions between pedestrians and vehicles are unavoidable in modern transport systems, but the risks can still be minimised through better planning and traffic management. “If there is no interaction between pedestrians and vehicles, then there will be no crashes involving pedestrians,” he said. He also stressed that vehicle speed remains one of the biggest factors determining the severity of injuries in school-zone accidents. “The likelihood of being severely injured at 30kph would be very much less,”he said, referring to school-zone speed limits. Wong warned that roads with lighter traffic could sometimes pose a greater threat because motorists tend to drive faster even when schoolchildren are nearby. “The challenging part is that when roads become quieter, cars start moving faster even though there are still schoolchildren around.” On May 6, Johor announced plans to tighten traffic management around schools following the death of a pupil who was hit by a vehicle outside SK Sri Maimon in Parit Sulong, Batu Pahat, a day earlier. Johor education and information committee chairman Aznan Tamin said the measures would include stricter control of school entry and exit points, wider implementation of one-way traffic systems, improvements to pick-up and drop-off zones and better separation of pedestrian and vehicle routes. Universiti Putra Malaysia road safety researcher Law Teik Hua said poor traffic design was likely the root cause behind many school-zone accidents. He said environments that rely heavily on ideal driver behaviour, such as obeying warning signs and traffic rules, are considered “weak systems” in traffic management. “With poor design, including shared-use lanes, drop-off confusion or inadequate buffer zones, cognitive overload and unpredictability will occur with vehicles,” he said. Law added that mixed pedestrian and vehicle movement during school drop-off and pick-up periods created dangerous conditions around schools. Separate walkways, crossings and designated drop-off areas could reduce conflict points where pedestrians and vehicles intersect. Traffic-calming measures such as speed bumps, raised crossings, one-way systems and properly engineered drop-off zones would improve safety only if implemented together. Law said enforcement alone would not be enough without broader improvements to traffic flow systems and school-zone infrastructure. “A complete overhaul will entail the rearrangement of circulation flows, reallocation of roadways and pedestrian-friendly zones,” he said.

o AKPS needs 13,721 posts for optimum strength, still lacks 5,726 for full operations: DG

Shuhaily said he aims to change the work culture of future AKPS officers, preferring personnel capable of handling border movement activities as a singular process, instead of intra agency involvement. – ADIB RAWI YAHYA/THESUN

Ű BY FAIZ RUZMAN newsdesk@thesundaily.com

PUTRAJAYA: The Home Ministry’s newest border agency already has the powers. What it is still building is the muscle to use them. For the Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS), the challenge now is turning a young agency into a disciplined border force with real field reach. Director-General Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain said the agency must now turn authority on paper into field strength as it enters its own service structure from July 1. Racing towards the July clock The manpower gap now sits at the centre of the agency’s build-up, as it readies its first intake for Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link trial operations in October, ahead of full service in January 2027. While racing against time, Shuhaily said AKPS needs 13,721 posts to operate at optimum strength, with Phase 1 of its operations involving 6,883 posts, including 103 at headquarters. Balance of 1,112 reallocation posts are currently being sorted under Phase 2, leaving AKPS still short of 5,726 posts from its fully fledged operational requirement. For RTS, AKPS was allocated 640 posts, with 478 recruits to begin three months’ training on June 22 before trials. However, Shuhaily warned that RTS preparations could be hit if agencies withdraw personnel and resources while AKPS remains short-staffed. “Come July 1, with the numbers we have, obviously we are short of manpower. Whatever has been extended to us by the main agencies must be continued. “If these agencies pull their men, everything will collapse,” he told theSun at the AKPS headquarters in the Setia Perkasa complex. Shuhaily said the July 1 scheme is meant to move AKPS away from previous border units that depended on borrowed officers. The scheme will absorb officers who opt in from existing enforcement agencies, giving AKPS its own workforce instead of relying on secondments.

injury of children occur at unregistered babysitting homes and childcare centres.” He advised parents to always choose registered childcare centres to ensure their children are cared for according to established regulations. Meanwhile, Azahar said a five-hour post mortem conducted at Hospital Rembau confirmed that there was pressure on the victim’s neck. “Police are still awaiting the results of further tests. Investigations also found that the babysitter was not registered with any department and was providing childcare services privately for payment,” he said. – Bernama find? What was the modus operandi ? What time did it come? Those kinds of things allow you to profile an area and profile activities,” Shuhaily said. He stressed that AKPS currently controls only two out of eight checkpoints in the northern border context, limiting its ability to give a full picture of checkpoint effectiveness there. The remaining checkpoints are currently under the purview of the Immigration Department. Training beyond counter checks Shuhaily also aims to change the work culture of future AKPS officers, preferring personnel capable of handling border movement activities as a singular process, instead of intra-agency involvement. His aim is for future AKPS officers to be exposed to immigration, customs, Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services (Maqis) and other border function processes. “AKPS officers must know Customs work. They must know Immigration work. They must know Maqis and quarantine related work. They must know everything.” Shuhaily said AKPS has identified Segamat Pulapol as the proposed training facility for its first recruit batch, with recruits expected to report there on June 22 if approval is granted by the inspector-general of police. The real test for AKPS comes after July 1: whether a new service structure can produce officers who make the border work as one force, not separate counters under one roof.

The stakes are especially high for the RTS Link, which will connect Bukit Chagar and Woodlands North and is expected to handle up to 10,000 passengers per hour in each direction once operational. Northern field readiness and intelligence gap Up north where operations are no longer theoretical, AKPS’s build-up is already being tested on the ground. Recalling the Feb 25 Bukit Kayu Hitam shooting involving the border’s AKPS commander SAC Mohd Nasaruddin Mohd Nasir, Shuhaily said it had shaped the agency’s preparations in the region, including plans to equip personnel based on operational risk. He said firearms would not be issued across the board, with AKPS instead looking at a limited, risk-based approach involving pistols and some rifles only in critical areas. But for the no-nonsense law enforcement veteran, field readiness could not stop at firearms. “For AKPS, we do not have people that gather intelligence and do investigations. We have people who just do daily physical inspections. “So it depends on what we find and what we do not find. It needs to be digested. This is where the commander’s role comes into play.” Shuhaily said this was why high-risk checkpoints should be led by police officers with investigative thinking that binds both inspection and analytical skills. “How many people passed? What did you

Six-day remand for babysitter over death of infant SEREMBAN: A babysitter detained to assist investigations into the death of a seven month-old boy at a house in Bandar Sri Sendayan near here last Tuesday has been remanded for six days until May 25. for further treatment, but was pronounced dead after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) efforts were carried out. Investigations found that at the time of the incident, the baby was believed to have been laid down to sleep in a cradle and given a silicone pacifier.

Seremban police chief ACP Azahar Abdul Rahim said the remand order against the 38 year-old woman began on Wednesday, and the case is being investigated under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001. The media reported that the baby was believed to have become unconscious while under the care of the babysitter at her house in Bandar Sri Sendayan. The victim was taken to a nearby clinic before being sent to Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital

Meanwhile, Negeri Sembilan Social Welfare Department director Muhammad Yusry Che Dah said the childcare centre was unregistered and operating without approval under the Child Care Centre Act 1984. “Based on preliminary reports, several children were under the care of the woman, and we have ordered the premises to cease operations. Most cases involving the death or