KUALA LUMPUR – Pakatan Harapan chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and 76 opposition MPs have called on the government to immediately set up a special commission to investigate the handling of the floods, adding that its report must be debated and approved by Parliament.
In a statement today, the bloc agreed with several suggestions put forth by Gabungan Darurat Iklim Malaysia and a group of 44 civil societies and Malaysian individuals.
“The government must recognise the flood disaster as a national disaster.
“The government should also embark on pro-climate policies like a national adaptation plan, a disaster risk reduction plan and push for higher prosecution for those who contribute to climate change like deforestation.
The recent floods disaster, the bloc said, is a sobering reminder that the country should be prepared for such extreme climate events.
“The government’s unpreparedness of dealing with the aftermath and not having a ready plan to mitigate the disaster was shambolic.
“It is distressing that 46 lives were lost in Selangor and Pahang because of the ineffectiveness and the lackadaisical attitude of the federal government.
“There was also a communication mishap between the federal government and the Selangor state government on dealing with the search and rescue mission, with reports of armed forces self-deploying themselves because the flood waters were too high and they could not wait for orders from higher-ups.
“This is worrying to the people of Malaysia as instead of saving lives, the federal government opts to play petty politics.
“There are 32 ministers in Ismail Sabri’s cabinet but instead of deploying themselves to be at the aid of the people, they instead pretend to ‘help’ for photo opportunities,” the bloc stated.
Since the floods have receded in most places, the bloc said there needs to be a thorough post-mortem on what went wrong and which areas need to be improved upon.
“The federal government should also engage with all stakeholders, including members of the opposition and civil society groups, to develop a holistic plan to mitigate disasters as well as environmental impacts moving forward.
“The government needs to act fast. We need to prevent unnecessary losses of lives due to inefficiencies, tardiness and carelessness which could have been avoided from the start,” the bloc added. – The Vibes, December 29, 2021
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