Kit Siang wants to meet Najib now to discuss flood proposals

Putrajaya's RM500 million flood relief aid is inadequate, says an opposition lawmaker, given the magnitude of the destruction. – The Malaysian Insider pic, January 4, 2015.

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang wants to hold a discussion with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak before Wednesday's cabinet meeting to present the party's four-point proposal on the recent floods.

The proposal, he said, sought for a declaration of a state of emergency for flood-stricken states, formation of a Barisan Nasional-Pakatan Rakyat joint action council, convening of a special parliamentary sitting this month and doubling Putrajaya's RM500 million flood relief aid to RM1 billion.

"I am seeking an urgent meeting with Datuk Seri Najib before Wednesday with a four-point proposal for adoption by the Cabinet with regard to the floods catastrophe which ravaged nine states in the past two weeks," he said in a statement today.

Lim said the Cabinet had not met since December 17 as the last two Wednesdays on December 24 and December 31 were Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve respectively.

He said although those two dates were not public holidays, it is tradition that Cabinet would not meet on those dates as most ministers would be away on leave or holiday.

"If I am correct, Cabinet had not met since December 17, then this is a gross disregard of public duties and responsibilities by the entire Cabinet.

"And Najib owes the country a full and satisfactory explanation for the Cabinet playing truant when the country was faced with an unprecedented flood catastrophe, which caused the evacuation of 250,000 people and the death of at least 21 people.”

The Gelang Patah MP said with warnings of a third wave by the Meteorological Department set to begin on January 7 or 8, with continuous heavy rains up to three days for Johor, Sabah and Sarawak, Putrajaya and the National Security Council should not be caught off-guard again.

The number of evacuees in the flood-hit states of Pahang, Kelantan, Perak, Terengganu and Johor continued to improve, with fewer than 50,000 people at relief centres this morning, down from 55,919 last night.

At its height, the floods displaced more than 200,000.

Despite the improvement, it is estimated that at least RM1 billion was needed for rebuilding houses and infrastructures, with at least RM338 million needed to repair damaged roads, drains and sewerage systems.

- TMI