CORONAVIRUS | Batu MP P Prabakaran (above) has put aside his squabble with Deputy Minister Edmund Santhara for the time being to focus on the plight of residents in Selayang, who he claimed are still without food.
The PKR lawmaker said in a social posting last night that he has been receiving calls from residents at Taman Sri Murni informing him that they have yet to receive aid from the Social Welfare Department.
The area had been placed under the enhanced movement control order (MCO) since Monday, which means its residents are not permitted to leave their homes, even to purchase food.
“On the incident… between one deputy minister and myself inside the Taman Sri Murni command centre, I believe they are not being honest in saying what really happened, which led to my detention at Sentul police station for several hours on Monday.
“I will look into it, maybe later, because I have more urgent matters to resolve for my constituents at Taman Sri Murni… (I) just received the message that some food has been distributed (to) one phase and two more pending.
“I'm still getting so many calls from people there who tell me they haven't had a proper meal because they are out of groceries. They claim they haven't eaten and are in dire need of milk powder, rice and the basic essentials, but no aid from welfare department has reached them when I'm writing this," the lawmaker said.
He claimed his team has been able to put together 500 bags of food and essential items for the residents but was not allowed to distribute them due to the Emco. He was told the Welfare Department would distribute the bags of food items today.
Yesterday afternoon, Malaysiakini reported that the government has yet to provide food to residents in the vicinity of the Kuala Lumpur wholesale market in Selayang.
Kuala Lumpur Vegetable Wholesalers Association president Wong Keng Fatt said his staff in Taman Sri Murni and Bandar Utara Selayang were promised four meals a day and he claimed that no food had been sent as of noon yesterday.
On Monday, police officers escorted Prabakaran from a centre in Taman Sri Murni to the Sentul district police headquarters following an alleged exchange there between him and Edmund, who is the deputy federal territories minister.
Edmund denied the duo have been embroiled in an argument but instead, claimed Prabarakan was told to leave the centre as he entered when a meeting on sensitive data was being held.
A National Security Council (NSC) official, who declined to be named, further denied Prabakaran's claim that he was issued with an authorisation letter to be at the Enhanced MCO area.
- Mkini
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