SEGAMAT – The Home Ministry will study the need to obtain new assets for the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) to deal with floods or other disasters in the future.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said the proposal was timely due to existing assets including helicopters and boats being found to be obsolete and technologically outmoded.
“It’s when we want to help then we realise our assets such as boats that we have been using for a long time (are obsolete), (so) we want to find boats that are more suitable for flood disasters in the future.
“We also feel old assets such as helicopters are dangerous (for use) in a thunderstorm and heavy rain because they do not have instruments that can be adapted for flood or other disasters,” he said at a press conference after visiting the PDRM flood op tactical base at the Police Training Centre in Segamat here today.
He said the flood situation this time provided an opportunity for his ministry to re-evaluate the need to purchase new assets so that the relief work, including rescue, would run smoothly.
Commenting on the Bukit Kepong Emergency Gallery in Muar which was affected by the recent floods, Hamzah said the ministry provided over RM250,000 to PDRM to carry out repairs on the damaged gallery.
“During my visit, I saw that it was very badly affected (by floods) even though its initial construction had taken into consideration events such as 2011 flood disasters.
“Although we were able to save the artefacts, this time the disaster was quite severe and out of concern, I have agreed to provide assistance of RM250,000 to repair the gallery,” he said.
The Bukit Kepong Emergency Gallery, located next to the Muar River, was recently submerged in 2.5m deep water and it was the worst since 2011.
The gallery – which displays the history of the communist emergency including events like the ambush on Bukit Kepong Police Station, the emergency period of 1948 to 1960, and the era of the Second Communist Insurgency from 1968 to 1989 – was inaugurated on February 23, 2017.
Earlier, Hamzah visited the Bukit Kepong Emergency Gallery in Muar before visiting the flood-hit areas in Segamat including Batu Anam, Buloh Kasap and Pogoh. – Bernama pic, January 14, 2022
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