[UPDATED] No New Year’s Eve celebration this year

PUTRAJAYA – The New Year’s Eve celebration at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur on December 31 has been cancelled due to the flood situation in several states, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

“Due to the flood situation and the hardships it caused, we have decided to cancel the grand New Year’s Eve celebration on December 31 at Dataran Merdeka,” he told a press conference after chairing the weekly cabinet meeting here today.

Anwar said today’s cabinet meeting focused on the floods in the east coast and that he himself will go down to Kelantan to assess the situation there this afternoon.

He said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who had already conducted monitoring in Kelantan and Terengganu, had briefed the cabinet on the situation at today’s meeting.

“I will go to Kelantan and will make flood-related announcements there after getting field reports from the state government,” he said.

Anwar said the cabinet meeting also briefly discussed developments in Parliament in the past two days especially the motion of confidence tabled by the prime minister on Monday.

The Tambun MP received majority support as the 10th Prime Minister after the motion of confidence was passed by voice vote after being tabled by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof and seconded by Zahid.

“We can now focus on work and generating economic growth because the mandate given is clear,” he said, thanking Fadillah for tabling the well-received motion.

“Almost unanimous on the day (and) even if there was a vote, two-thirds (majority) vote was indeed assured.

“So I take this opportunity to thank all the parties in the unity government and coincidentally in this case no one from the opposition objected,” he said.

He said the big mandate received was for the government to fully focus on ensuring more effective governance for the welfare of the people and the country. – Bernama, December 21, 2022