Govt not focused on climate change, hence the floods, Dewan Rakyat told

 

Mukhriz Mahathir says the current government does not see climate change as a priority.

KUALA LUMPUR: Mukhriz Mahathir (Pejuang-Jerlun) said today the government’s lack of attention to climate change was a contributing factor to the severe floods which swept the country last month.

Debating the recent floods in the Dewan Rakyat, he noted how the energy, science, technology, environment and climate change ministry (Mestecc), which was formed when Pakatan Harapan took over Putrajaya in 2018, was restructured after Perikatan Nasional gained power two years later..

The ministries were then divided to the science, technology and innovation ministry (Mosti), the environment and water ministry (Kasa), and the ministry of energy and natural resources (Ketsa) – leaving climate change out in the cold.

“Now that Mestecc is back to three separate ministries, it seems as if climate change is not seen as a priority. It’s really not helping when our strategy to address climate change is divided among different ministries and agencies without being coordinated by one authority.

“The whole world is taking climate change seriously, but it doesn’t seem like we in Malaysia are,” the Pejuang president said.

Stating that the drainage and irrigation department (DID) played a key role in flood mitigation efforts, Mukhriz pointed out that there has yet to be an Act that would give the agency power to take action against parties that flouted laws regarding rivers.

“It seems that DID just monitors, and if any rules are broken, they are reported to other parties for action to be taken.

“I think this shouldn’t be happening as DID, as we know, plays a very important role in ensuring our river banks are at an optimal level and our rivers are not polluted with harmful substances.”

Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (Muda-Muar) said the government’s lack of planning and unwillingness to spend on certain flood mitigation efforts was a major factor in the devastating floods.

Calling for a parliamentary special select committee on climate change and for the government to take the “climate emergency” seriously, he related how a call by a Kasa official in August 2020 for Putrajaya to spend “at least RM300 million” on riverside reservoirs fell on deaf ears.

“The warning was ignored as we were faced with a different emergency then, a health one,” he said.

“We were negligent, and the impact was worse. The failure to spend that RM300 million has caused Malaysia to lose RM6.5 billion.” - FMT