Don’t blame God over Kedah floods, Anwar tells minister

 

Anwar Ibrahim reminds Takiyuddin Hassan that the floods could also have been caused by humans destroying the environment.

KUALA LUMPUR: Anwar Ibrahim (PH-Port Dickson) slammed energy and natural resources minister Takiyuddin Hassan for describing the recent floods in Gurun, Yan and Merbok in Kedah as an “act of God”.

Responding to a question from Sabri Azit (PAS-Jerai), Takiyuddin said the ministry was saddened to see the “act of God” that happened in Kedah, prompting Anwar to interject.

“Don’t just blame God when it comes to environmental problems. Sometimes they are problems caused by humans.

“How do you know it’s an act of God when corrupt humans destroy the environment?” asked Anwar, before his microphone was cut off by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun.

Takiyuddin later explained that when he went to visit the site of the floods, he saw that the trees that were washed away by the floodwaters still had their roots, which meant that they were not from logging activities.

“This is what we call destiny set by God. Act of God,” said the minister.

Massive floods had hit Gurun, Yan and Merbok in August following an intense rainfall beating a 70-year average at 278mm in a span of a few hours. The flooding saw close to 1,000 families affected with mud waters reaching as high as 1.5m.

Takiyuddin also explained that Jerai was located in the 160,000ha Ulu Muda forest reserve, of which 12% of it was a protected area while 88% of the remaining forest could be logged.

While the Kedah state government had decided not to issue any new logging licences in the past three years, he said it had given permits to cut down 25,000ha of the forest from 2014 to 2019.

“But there was no logging in the Ulu Muda forest reserve at all,” he added.

The minister also said the nation had not exceeded its Annual Felling Rationing (CTT) set in the past two years, with only 10,949ha developed out of the 43,299ha CTT set aside for 2019.

“In 2020, the CTT approved was lower than the year before, 39,345ha, but what was developed was only 22,931ha. This shows that the federal government is serious about this.” -FMT