Concerns about the adverse publicity surrounding the ferry tragedy off Pulau Tioman last month, in which seven people died, prompted its assemblyman to make an outlandish suggestion.

“Maybe we should just build a bridge from Tanjung Gemok (in Rompin) all the way to Tioman as part of the East Coast Economic Region’s initiative,” said Md Rusli Ismail (BN-Tioman) while debating the state’s 2008 budget.

Several members of the house broke into laughter. Md Rusli, who looked serious initially, smiled when he was teased for making the unrealistic suggestion yesterday.

A bridge linking Tioman with the mainland would have to be at least 32km long. In contrast, the Penang Bridge, which is the longest in the country, spans just over 13.5km.

Md Rusli had earlier called for safety measures on ferries to the island to be improved and said all of them should only be allowed to operate from the Rompin jetty. He said he was expecting tourists numbers to the resort island to suffer following the fire that caused the Seagull Express 2 to sink on Oct 14.

He called for a more vigorous promotion for the island, urging the state government to lobby for a flight service from Kuantan to Tioman to encourage local tourism.

Tourists are offered flight services to Tioman only via Subang airport in Kuala Lumpur and Seletar airport in Singapore.

I share the same sentiments with mocha. The influx of vehicles will be too much for the island to handle.

Not to mention, the toll fees (hahahahaaa)

Posted on November 22nd, 2007.

It’s actually been 4 weeks since Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy promised a report from an investifation committee headed by the ministry’s secretary-general, Datuk Zakaria Bahari for the “end of the month”. But since Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis proposed a new jetty at Mersing estimated to cost RM120 million, we have heard nothing further about this investigation or the report. The only thing related to the Tioman ferry accident are feel-good photo opportunities with the only good thing to come out of the incident.

Posted on November 22nd, 2007.

NA: i think we gonna end up parking along the bridge and walk to the island… on peak period (m’sia and s’pore hols), we probably need to park at mersing and long march 32 km to tioman… haha…. at least we haf another option… to walk!!!

Posted on November 23rd, 2007.