Guan Eng: Laugh at me, not flood victims

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has urged the public to make fun of him instead of flood victims.

"If you need to make fun (of someone), make fun of me. Don't laugh or make fun of flood victims," Lim told a press conference in Penang today.

Penang was inundated by floodwaters last weekend after a freak tropical storm. The floods claimed seven lives and displaced thousands on the island and the mainland.

Meanwhile, Lim again appealed to the federal government to release at least RM1 billion of the RM2.6 billion allocated for flood mitigation projects in the state.

He said although he appreciates Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's visit to the state recently, nothing much was said about the funds that had originally been promised.

"We are not asking for the RM1.6 billion balance (from the RM2.6 billion pledged). We are only asking for RM1 billion.

"We are not asking for more or for an additional allocation," he said.

Lim said the RM150 million pledged for flood mitigation projects mentioned by Najib recently was referring to projects that had already been announced by the federal government in late 2016.

Previously, the state government had complained that only a portion of the funds for flood mitigation works allocated under the ninth, tenth and eleventh Malaysia Plan had been disbursed.- Mkini