THE student bodies which have endorsed this statement are extremely upset and disappointed with the fact that students and the general Malaysian populace have been left behind by the government with little to no aid when affected by one of Malaysia’s worst floods in years.
We duly note that on December 19, the Higher Education Ministry (MoHE) had “activated the Flood Operations Room to assist IPT students and staff” via coordination of the distribution of assistance to those affected. However, reality seems to suggest that such initiatives were slow to be mobilised as there seems to be a lack of material aid from the said initiative.
What further agitated the students was that the MoHE failed to take prompt measures beforehand to announce a cooldown period for the IPTs in light of this grave situation. This cooldown period is crucial for those affected to recover their electricity, WiFi connection, emotional well-being as well as returning to a conducive study environment before resuming their studies so that they will not be left behind in their academic (endeavours) in the already challenging online distance learning environment.
Pleas were made by multiple student bodies such as the Persatuan Kebangsaan Pelajar Islam Malaysia, Persatuan Pelajar Islam Selangor Darul Ehsan, and Biro Mahasiswa Angkatan Muda Keadilan as well as the respective students’ unions / student representative councils to their respective university administrations, but alas, this all fell on deaf ears. It was only until late December 22 when the MoHE released a statement “suggesting” to the IPTs to take such an approach. This, instead of helping students, instead threw them into greater disarray as the ambiguous directive made them unsure of whether there would be any learning and teaching activities in the following day.
We as Malaysian citizens are also disheartened by the inconsiderate actions made by various government officials during this period, these include:
Lack of direction from the top-level chain of command earlier this week for the military, firefighters and other related civil servants to join rescue and rebuilding operations (which they did in past occasions), to the extent that the thoughtful and commendable armed forces had to spring into action on their own initiative;
Commencement of various large-scale gimmicks, some even in hotels, when victims are still in flood zones receiving minimal aid from governmental initiatives to date;
Wastage of available resources in the form of boats, which could be used in flood rescue operations, but was instead used to ferry politicians and their respective personnel in flood zones; and
Absence of any warning and mitigation measures taken before the floods occurred, which lead us to question whether Malaysia has a proper flood forecasting system.
For this entire period, the people of Malaysia have been forced to rely purely on other countrymen in the absence of relevant initiatives from government officials, reflecting the #KitaJagaKita, #MahasiswaJagaMahasiswa, #RakyatJagaRakyat slogans. The government officials are only in the field to snap pictures of themselves instead of providing proper aid. Thus, if the government knows shame for their incompetency in formulating a response to the floods which have ultimately led to civilian deaths, they ought to make amends immediately by:
Sending aid to affected university students according to data collected by the Flood Operations Room;
Coordinating various real and meaningful rescue and rebuilding operations that are not for mere gimmick and publicity purposes by sending the military, firefighters, and civilian volunteers;
Announce to the public what are the various data collected from the recent floods, and what are the short-term and long-term action plans to mitigate losses in future occurrences.
What the government does, the students and citizens remember. – The Vibes, December 24, 2021
Universiti Malaya Students’ Union is an organisation formed and led by students of Malaysia’s oldest university.
