The irrigation and drainage department hoped the early warning will allow residents to be ready to face the floods. (Bernama pic)
KUALA LUMPUR: The irrigation and drainage department (DID) said there is a possibility of floods occurring in several areas in Terengganu and Kelantan tomorrow (Dec 1) and Friday.
The DID, in a statement today, said that floods could occur if there is heavy rain in the basins of Sungai Setiu, Sungai Dungun, Sungai Kemaman, Sungai Paka, Sungai Besut in Terengganu and Sungai Golok in Rantau Panjang, Kelantan.
It said this was based on the rain forecast information from the Malaysian meteorological department (MetMalaysia) and flood forecast model simulations.
In Terengganu, several areas at risk of floods tomorrow are in the Setiu district (Kampung Che Mohid, Sekolah Kebangsaan Kampong Besut and surrounding areas), starting from 5pm, and Kampung Permaisuri, Kampung Nyatoh and surrounding areas, from 8pm.
“On Friday, the DID expects floods to occur in the Dungun district (Kampung Wa and its surrounding areas) as well as the Kemaman district (Sungai Pinang and its surrounding areas) from 8am,” the statement added.
On the same day, the DID also expects floods to hit Kelantan in the Pasir Mas district (Kampung Lubok Stol and its surrounding areas) from midnight, while the areas around Kampung Kubang Pak Hitam, Kampung Tok Deh, Kampung Lanchang and Kampung Siput are expected to be hit from 9am.
The DID also forecasts floods to occur in Terengganu in areas such as the Besut district (Pelagat Pump House and its surrounding areas) and Paka district (Kampung Luit and its surrounding areas) from 7pm on Friday.
“These floods may happen earlier or later than expected.
“This warning is issued so that residents in the areas expected to be hit will be alert and comply with the instructions given by the authorities or flood disaster management agencies,” it added.
The National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) said three districts in two states were still affected by floods as of 4pm today.
It said a total of 402 evacuees were seeking shelter in four temporary evacuation centres (PPS) so far.
This was due to continuous rain that resulted in flooding in several areas in Sepang, Hulu Selangor and Ampang Jaya districts.
“Two PPS have been opened in Sepang district to accommodate 90 victims from 24 households,” it said.
DID said at 4.30pm, only Sungai Junjung in Simpang Empat, Seberang Perai Selatan, Penang, was reported to be at a danger level. In Selangor, Sungai Semenyih and Sungai Bernam are reported to be at the warning level.
The DID also issued a flood warning for Terengganu and Kelantan at 3pm today, involving Sungai Setiu, Sungai Dungun, Sungai Kemaman, Sungai Paka, Sungai Besut and Sungai Golok. - FMT
Just over four and a half years ago on May 13, 2018, I led a small group of activists to hold a protest against the newly minted Pakatan Harapan government in Johor, just four days after they won the right to form the state government after GE14.
We protested over two matters. The then-menteri besar, the late Osman Sapian told the media that he wasn't giving any constituency allocations to the opposition (Umno) because why would he give "bullets" to the opposition to shoot him?
The second issue was that he (Harapan) was receiving several political frogs who were leaving Umno to join Bersatu.
In a swift reversal, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin then instructed Osman to give allocations to the opposition in Johor, though far from equal. However, they continued to accept defectors from Umno at the state and federal levels.
To us activists, accepting defectors from other parties was an act of encouraging betrayal of their voters and not giving equal allocation to opposition representatives is disrespecting the right of their voters to choose whom they want to represent them.
Such practices have no place in a democracy.
For our principled stand, many hardcore Harapan supporters and even friends criticised, slammed and mocked us, calling us idealistic, naive and other worse names.
To them, the ends justified the means. They said Harapan needed to build a convincing two-thirds majority to amend the constitution for reforms and "frogs" are welcome. Furthermore, BN deserves to be "punished" for what they did to the country and to the opposition all those years.
Guess what? These two issues - party hopping and the often-given reason for hopping, unequal allocations, brought down the Harapan government after 22 months.
I am not saying that these were the only reasons but unprincipled actions had given justification for unprincipled consequences.
Leaderswith court cases
Now, after GE15, with the outcome being a Harapan-led "unity government", these same pragmatists and realists are saying the same thing, principles don't matter and what is all-important is staying in power, even if it means compromising on your own so-called principles and promises.
Even as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is contemplating his cabinet line-up, he is under pressure to assemble a team that consists of not just his Harapan coalition alone but also MPs from other parties that gave him the majority.
Among the candidates touted for the deputy prime minister’s post is Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who still has an ongoing trial involving 47 corruption-related charges. Others with ongoing cases are Lim Guan Eng (DAP), Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (Muda), and Bung Mokhtar Radin (Umno).
Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
My stand is that anyone with ongoing criminal cases should not be appointed to the cabinet until their cases are fully disposed of by the courts - without interference by the executive through the withdrawal of charges by the attorney-general, who is a political appointee.
We should be fully aware that the AG is also the public prosecutor and has the power to withdraw ongoing cases. We just have to remember Lim's case in 2018, Musa Aman's case in 2020, Riza Aziz's in 2020, and spy chief Hasanah Abdul Hamid's case in 2021, just to name a few.
Would we be satisfied that the cases against Zahid, Lim, Syed Saddiq and Bung Mokhtar be dropped by the AG without going through the due process of the law? Even if the executive denies interference, would we believe it or are we okay with such interference?
DAP chairperson Lim Guan Eng
The usual pragmatists and realists are again urging us to look at the "big picture" and be "strategic". To them, this whole Harapan-led unity government was made possible by the benevolence of one man, Zahid, and the viability of Anwar as prime minister also depends on him.
To let Zahid be appointed as deputy prime minister and even to be let off his corruption charges is a small price - think of the "big picture".
Let me tell you about my "big picture". It is not about installing Anwar as prime minister or having a Harapan government. My big picture is to have a Malaysia that has zero tolerance towards the “cancer’ called corruption - a scourge that has plagued our country for decades.
Most Malaysians, including those who voted for Perikatan Nasional (PN), voted for a clean government because we are sick of corruption at every level of our society.
By appointing Zahid or any of those with ongoing corruption charges to our cabinet, Anwar is sending a clear message to the world, that corruption can be tolerated if it achieves a "greater good".
If that is the case, we have not voted for systemic change but just for a change of prime minister or government. We are already a lost cause as a nation.
Yes, a person is innocent until proven guilty. Then let the court prove their innocence and if they are, reshuffle the cabinet and bring them in. There is no shortage of talent among our elected MPs and we would not suffer without their contribution in the meantime.
Sabah Umno chief Bung Mokhtar Radin
The role of civil society and activists in a nation is to be that voice of conscience for what is right. We will continue to speak out on what is universally accepted as just, inclusive, proper and reasonable so that the powers that be can be reminded of their responsibility to the rest of us.
To silence or mock the concerns of civil society is to set ourselves up for a fall - a mighty fall.
As a responsible civil society organisation, Bersih, which I am leading, we have not only consistently voiced out our concerns and views on many democratic governance and process issues but we are cognizant of "realpolitik" and offer alternative solutions without compromising on principles.
In other words, we don't just slam but we offer real-world solutions.
For Anwar to achieve political stability for his government, we have proposed the signing of confidence and supply agreements (CSA) with both his coalition partners and the opposition - as well as reforming Parliament to allow backbenchers and the opposition to play their roles as effective checks and balances.
We have issued several statements since Nov 19 that provide solutions and guidance to the formation of the government. These are derived from over two years of research we commissioned and can be found in our new book titled "Making Democracy Work".
With GE15, we have a golden opportunity to rebuild Malaysia, let's not throw it away by compromising on key principles that we have fought for all these years.
Principles are what distinguish us from the old ways of governing. Corruption is a scourge and for that, most people of this divided nation are in agreement.
Let us send a clear signal that Malaysia is back in business and we won't tolerate corruption or the corrupt. - Mkini
THOMAS FANN is Bersih 2.0 chairperson.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
