Deputy Finance Minister, Datuk Ahmad Maslan said on January 5 that the government had spent RM800 million through the National Security Council to help victims in states affected by floods for the provision of food supply, logistics and cleaning houses of victims.
This created an uproar of protests all round.
At a media conference in Kota Bahru the next day, I expressed shock and outrage at Maslan’s RM800 million claim, stating that I had visited Kota Bahru three times, been in Kuala Krai twice, even in the Ground Zero zones of Manek Urai, Kg Manjur and Kg Karangan, as well as been in Gua Musang, but I definitely did not feel or sense that RM500 million to RM600 million had been spent in Kelantan in relief efforts for the flood victims.
(As Kelantan was the worst flood-stricken state in the floods catastrophe, if Maslan was right that RM800 million had been spent on the flood victims, the bulk of the expenditure, say RM500 million – RM600 million, should have been spent in the state).
I demanded Maslan reveal how much had been spent in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Perak and a full and detailed audit of this RM800 million claim as I just did not believe that RM800 million had been spent on the flood victims, an impression shared by all NGOs and good-hearted Malaysians who had gone to the aid of the flood victims on their own efforts unrelated to government relief efforts.
I stressed in Kota Bahru: “There should be strict audit of the so-called RM800 million already spent to help flood victims, and the other expenditures still to be made, to ensure that there is no hanky-panky whatsoever.
“No money should be spared to help the flood victims, but not a sen should be wasted.
“All government expenditures spent in the floods catastrophe must directly benefit the flood victims and not the ‘floods’ barons, entrepreneurs or cronies.”
Even the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamad was taken aback by Maslan’s announcement, saying that PAC would be asking the Finance Ministry and the National Security Council to explain the RM800 million that had been spent on flood relief efforts.
Nur Jazlan said the amount allocated was huge and as such, its management needed to be transparent.
Even the PAS leader in charge of the Terengganu flood relief operations, Syed Azman Syed Ahmad Nawawi expressed surprise at Maslan’s claim as he could not see any Federal funds used for the flood victims in the state.
Maslan kept completely mum for 11 days despite repeated demands by Pakatan Rakyat leaders, NGOs and NGIs demanding for details of the RM800 million which the Deputy Finance Minister claimed had already been spent on flood victims on January 5.
Yesterday, January 16, the cat was finally out of the bag. Maslan was not telling the truth as the Federal Government had never spent RM800 million on the flood victims on January 5.
In an interview with The Malay Mail Online yesterday, the National Security Council secretary Datuk Mohamed Thajudeen Abdul Wahab clarified that the East coast flood relief aid approved by the Federal Government was RM500 million and not RM800 million.
Where did Maslan’s RM800 million come from?
From Thajuddin’s interview, it would appear that the Federal Government had not even spent RM100 million on the flood victims – confirming what I and many others had said that the flood victims, which must be close to a million with a quarter of a million evacuated to the various flood relief centres, could not feel that hundreds of millions of ringgit had been spent by the Federal Government on them – not to say on January 5, not even now, the fourth week of the worst floods catastrophe in Malaysia in living memory.
It would appear that the RM500 million allocated by the Federal Government for the worst floods catastrophe was the amount announced by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak when he visited Kelantan cutting short his vacation in Hawaii.
How much of this RM500 million had been spent in each of the flood-stricken states?
So far, Thajuddin could only mention RM41 million for 82,000 families of flood victims who stayed at evacuation centres with each family receiving RM500.
What about the families of flood victims who did not stay in evacuation centres? Are they to get nothing?
How are the balance of RM459 million to be spent?
Maslan should apologise for the false claim on Jan 5 that the Federal Government had spent RM800 million to help flood victims when only RM41 million had been spent up to now!
Furthermore, Malaysians are entitled to an explanation why the clarification only came 11 days after Maslan’s false claim.
If this is a reflection of the efficiency of the public service, it is no wonder that in all three phases of the worst floods catastrophe in living memory, flood response, relief and reconstruction, Federal Government performance are so abysmal with many areas of flood devastation hardly undergoing any change although the floods catastrophe was more than three weeks ago.
It also from Thajuddin’s interview with The Malay Mail Online that I learnt that death toll from the floods were 25 lives.
This is most shocking, as contradictory and conflicting figures of total death toll had been given by different agencies, such as between the Police and the NSC!
This is a reflection of the lack of transparency, accountability and efficiency in the Floods Disaster Management Preparations, reinforcing the argument for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the mishandling of the worst floods catastrophe in living memory in Malaysia.