Sabah floods: Where are food rations?

Where is the RM500 federal flood aid that were given to flood victims in the peninsula, asked Bingkor assemblyman Jeffrey Kitingan.

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government has come under fire for failing to activate its Natural Disaster and Relief Committee to help victims of severe flooding in Tenom.

Bingkor assemblyman Jeffrey Kitingan said the state government has an obligation to ensure that the flood situation there does not get out of hand following reports weeks ago that the government authorities were aware of the threat of flooding in the area.

However, Jeffry said that since the alert no practical action had been taken by any department or relief agency to render any assistance to the affected villagers there.

“Where are the federal agencies?  Where are the food rations? When is the Prime Minister going to visit Tenom?

“Where is the RM500 federal flood aid that were given to flood victims in the peninsula?” he asked during a visit to Tenom to assess the situation there.

He observed that the worst affected areas included Kg. Saga, Kg. Batu and Kg. Bantungan in Lagud Sebrang, several villages in Tenom Lama and Kg. Dumantalik, the village of the Umno assemblyman for Kemabong.

He also took a swipe at Umno for failing to respond to the flood situation there despite the fact that Tenom is supposed to be its stronghold.

“The lack of relief and the treatment by the federal government through its agencies is totally unacceptable. One wonders what would be the response if the flooded area was not in Umno territory,” he said.

He then warned that if the weather situation does not improve, the further rains later this month will inundate more areas especially in low-lying and in the interiors.

He stressed that the devastating floods in Tenom for the last two days reveals the need to re-think and rationalise the federal-Sabah administrative set-up.

“We cannot continue to allow the disparity in the treatment of Sabahans compared to the counterparts in the peninsula by the federal government and federal agencies,” he stressed.

“The main problem is that these federal departments and agencies are all under federal control. The Fire and Rescue Department was only put on standby while the floods inundated many villages and left many villagers stranded,” he said.

“Even the Sabah government failed to mobilise any relief effort with the District Office said to be put on alert only” he added, noting that some villagers even had to use floating banana tree trunks make their way to safety.

Kitingan who is Sabah Star party chairman said it now appeared that the federal agencies would only react if a fatality occurred in the district and this mentality should change.

The current federal-Sabah administrative set-up, he said, needed to be urgently re-assessed to rationalise the various agencies and place them under the control of the Sabah government along with sufficient funding.

“What is the point of sending RM26.6 billion in Sabah’s oil and gas revenue to the peninsula, which does not include other federal revenues collected from Sabah, when the federal government does nothing to help the affected villagers in an emergency like the floods?

“We might as well take back and keep the RM26.6 billion in 2014 and the 6% GST in 2015 in Sabah so that the Sabah government can use the funds to look after their people.”