DPM’s logic on ‘state of emergency’ is obtuse

Lim Kit Siang says that since the floods are worse than anticipated by Muhyddin Yassin’s own admission, a state of emergency must be declared now.

PETALING JAYA: Unable to keep a dignified silence any longer over the worsening flood conditions in the East Coast, DAP elder statesman Lim Kit Siang lashed out at Deputy Prime Minister Muhyddin Yassin, saying his logic regarding when a state of emergency should be declared was “unacceptable and even obtuse”.

In a statement, Lim also said, “Surely Muhyiddin, the Cabinet and the NSC (National Security Council) are not expecting for fatalities to pile up to tens or hundreds accompanying the number of flood victims reaching the scale of hundreds of thousands before a state of emergency as a result of a flood disaster is declared!”

Backing up his argument, Lim showed proof that other countries were quick to react and centralised flood-relief operations before the tragedies got out of hand, much unlike what was happening in Malaysia.

The MP for Gelang Patah cited the November 28 flooding along the Gaza Strip that affected hundreds; the flooding on December 24 in Central Java, West Java and Aceh where 6,000 people were evacuated; the flooding in Vancouver on December 9 caused by a sub-tropical storm; and the December 16 floods in the Bay Area of San Francisco.

Explaining that the governments of these countries did not wait for “hundreds of thousands of flood victims before an emergency was declared”, Lim added, “There is an urgent need for the immediate review of such outmoded, archaic and obsolete rules” such as was put forth by Muhyiddin when he said a state of emergency would only be declared when power and water supplies were completely cut off and flood victims numbered “hundreds of thousands”.

Stressing the need for “an emergency meeting of the Cabinet in the next 24 hours,” Lim said, “It will be ridiculous for the Cabinet to wait until next Wednesday on December 31 to deliberate on the report, when the nation’s worst flood in recent history needs urgent measures to be taken on a 24/7 basis, and not on a leisurely week-by-week basis.”

Lim also cautioned that the floods were not confined to Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Perlis and Perak but were spreading to Kedah and Johor, saying “contingency measures should also be taken”.

He also said that current perceptions in Kelantan were not good and advised the duo of Najib and Muhyiddin to handle the situation better.

“Leaving Kelantan for instance in the sole charge of Datuk Mustapha Mohamad, who is a Kelantan MP, will only reinforce an image of Federal Government indifference and even neglect.

“I would urge the Prime Minister, Najib Razak to rush back from his vacation in Hawaii to chair the special Cabinet meeting within 24 hours”, he said and added in a tone dripping with cynicism, “there is no reason for Najib to tarry any further in Hawaii” since “taxpayers have provided him with an executive jet, and the flying time from Hawaii to Malaysia is 14 hours.”