Category: Kelantan

I never knew it is so easy to trap MCA and Gerakan leaderships into admitting their unholy subservience to UMNO by giving blank cheque agreement to UMNO Kelantan State Assemblymen so support PAS hudud implementation in Kelantan State Assembly next month, although this will be a fundamental deviation from their founding party principles and the commitments of their founding fathers.

But first of all, let me express my amusement at the response of MCA and Gerakan leaders to my pre-Cabinet email Open Letter to the MCA President, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and the Gerakan President, Datuk Mah Siew Keong, asking whether they would notify the Cabinet that their resignations from Cabinet would instantly come into effect when the Kelantan UMNO State Assemblymen support PAS hudud legislation in the Kelantan State Assembly next month.

Without any sense of shame or mortification, one MCA national leader asked me to “show some guts” to emulate the late Karpal Singh.

No emulation of the past or present MCA or Gerakan Presidents?

How sad indeed! Even before they are dead, the MCA and Gerakan Presidents have ceased to be “avatars” even to the present generation of MCA and Gerakan leaders, and it has not occurred to any MCA or Gerakan leader to ask anyone to emulate anyone of the past MCA or Gerakan Presidents, whether Liow Tiong Lai, Dr. Chua Soi Lek, Dr.Ling Liong Sik, Tan Koon Swan or Dr. Koh Tsu Koon and Mah Siew Keong!

It is entirely different in DAP, for the late Karpal Singh continues to be the icon and standard for all DAP leaders to benchmark themselves – and the reason why the DAP had been able to stand tall in the Malaysian political arena despite five decades of trials and tribulations, ups and downs, is because DAP leaders are all as one, like Karpal, in our dedication and loyalty to our political principles and commitments.

I had previously offered the MCA and Gerakan Ministers and leaders a free tuition course in their party headquarters if they have difficulty understanding the political and constitutional implications of Kelantan UMO State Assemblymen supporting the PAS hudud implementation in the Kelantan State Assembly next month. Continue reading “I never knew it is so easy to trap MCA and Gerakan leaderships into admitting their unholy subservience to UMNO by giving blank cheque agreement to UMNO Kelantan Assemblymen to support PAS hudud implementation in Kelantan State Assemby next month”

The decision announced by the UMNO President and Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak after the UMNO Supreme Council meeting last night that UMNO will stay out of the Chempaka state by-election in Kelantan is most welcome although not for the reasons given.

Najib said that the decision was for the sake of Muslim “unity” as well as to allow the federal government to focus on its flood relief, rehabilitation and reparation works still in progress.

It is sad that 58 years after Merdeka, and six years after the launching of his 1Malaysia signature policy, Najib has retreated to talk about Muslim unity instead of Malaysian unity.

The UMNO decision to stay out of Chempaka by-election should be a forerunner to promote a virtuous circle of moderation, tolerance, national unity and reconciliation, after a most prolonged, cacophonous and divisive period where the rhetoric of hate, intolerance, extremism and bigotry whether of race or religion, have held sway in the public domain raising disturbing questions about the future of Malaysia. Continue reading “UMNO decision to stay out of Chempaka by-election welcome but it should be forerunner to promote a virtuous cycle of national unity and reconciliation”

Open Letter to MCA President Datuk Liow Tiong Lai and Gerakan President Datuk Mah Siew Keong
25th February 2015 8 am

This is my third pre-Cabinet Open Letter for this month of February, but unlike the first two pre-Cabinet Open Letters to all Cabinet Minsiters, this is addressed specifically to the MCA President, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, the Transport Minister and the Gerakan President, Datuk Mah Siew Keong, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.

It is clear that the UMNO/BN strategists are taking full advantage of a possible change of political dynamics in Pakatan Rakyat with the death of Tuan Guru Nik Aziz and the imprisonment of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to refurbish and launch a devilish political plot to destabilize, divide and destroy the Pakatan Rakat which it rightly regarded as the greatest threat to the credibility and survival of the ruling coalition.

This latest UMNO/BN political plot has two phases, firstly and immediately to entice the PAS Kelantan State Government with UMNO support for the implementation of hudud legislation in Kelantan; secondly, the lure of “unity government” between UMNO and PAS.

This UMNO/BN political plot is a two-faced double prong one: on the one hand, UMNO promising and delivering support of UMNO Kelantan State Assemblymen to PAS Kelantan State Government in the Kelantan State Assembly on the implementation of hudud legislation in Kelantan next month; while on the other, MCA and Gerakan launching an intensive three-week publicity war against the DAP and PKR for “betraying the rights of non-Malays and non-Muslims” in supporting PAS Kelantan State Government in hudud implementation in the Kelantan State Assembly next month.

Top MCA and Gerakan leaders have started the political offensives and the MCA and Gerakan will intensify in the coming three weeks, focusing on the Kelantan PAS State Government’s stand in the Kelantan State Assembly on hudud implementation in Kelantan while totally ignoring the support of the Kelantan UMNO Assembly members to hudud implementation in Kelantan. Continue reading “Will Liow Tiong Lai and Mah Siew Keong notify the Cabinet today that their resignations from Cabinet would instantly come into effect when the Kelantan UMNO Assemblymen support PAS hudud legislation in Kelantan State Assembly next month?”

The MCA President, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and the Gerakan President, Datuk Mak Siew Keong should explain whether MCA and Gerakan had agreed to Kelantan UMNO State Assemblymen supporting PAS’ hudud legislation for implementation in the Kelantan State Assembly next month as part of the UMNO strategy to break up Pakatan Rakyat?

Suspicion of such an agreement has been caused by three developments:

• firstly, the sudden increase in the number of speeches and statements by all levels of MCA and Gerakan leaders on this issue in the past few days;

• secondly, the sudden two-hour meeting of the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council last Friday night within 24 hours of the death of Tok Guru Nik Aziz on the night of Thursday, 12th February, necessitating the holding of a by-election in the Chempaka state constituency; and

• thirdly a statement by a UMNO Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and Deputy Umno Youth leader Razali Ismail on Tuesday, 17th February that “despite the death of PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, UMNO will continue to support the Islamic party on the implementation of hudud in Kelantan”.

So is the stage set for a “big drama” from the Barisan Nasional component parties for next month’s Kelantan State Assembly, with Kelantan UMNO State Assemblmen voting in support of hudud implementation in Kelantan but ignored by MCA and Gerakan leaders and publicists who will concentrate on their attacks on the DAP and PKR for “selling out the rights of the non-Muslims in Malaysia” because of PAS Kelantan State Assemblymen and women voting for implementation of hudud in Kelantan?

In the uproar and din of multi-party attacks and counter-attacks, accusations and counter-accusations, the inability of the Kelantan State Assembly to implement hudud unless Parliament authorizes it will be temporarily forgotten. Continue reading “Let MCA and Gerakan Presidents explain whether MCA and Gerakan had agreed to Kelantan UMNO Assemblymen supporting PAS’s hudud legislation in Kelantan State Assembly next month as part of the UMNO strategy to break up Pakatan Rakyat?”

By Zurairi AR
The Malaysian Insider
February 13, 2015

‘Tok Guru’ Nik Aziz played a huge role in inter-racial reconciliations in Kelantan, and attracted even non-Muslim support for PAS and Pakatan Rakyat. ― File pic

OBITUARY, Feb 13 ― To others, he was known as Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

But to those who were fortunate enough to walk beside him, he was more fondly known just as “Tok Guru”.

It was an appropriate moniker for the soft-spoken leader, a quietly resilient man with an unassuming demeanour befitting his post as spiritual adviser of PAS, Malaysia’s largest Islamist party.

In PAS, Nik Aziz was revered as the party’s conscience and moral compass, often turned to for guidance.

Among fellow politicians, friend and foe alike, he was well-respected as a voice of reason and a symbol of humility. Continue reading “‘Tok Guru’ Nik Aziz, the conscience of PAS”

This is the third DAP SSS (Support Sympathy Solidarity) Anwar Ibrahim Ceramah, the first in Taman Cheras Jaya in Selangor on Sunday and the second at the Han Chiang School Hall in Penang last night.

DAP proposes to organize hundreds of SSS Anwar ceramahs, vigils, gatherings and events throughout the country in the next three years before the 14th General Elections with 3Save objectives – firstly, to save Anwar from prison, secondly to save Pakatan Rakyat from disintegration and thirdly, to save Malaysia from becoming a “failed state”.

Anwar has exhausted the judicial process and lost out when the Federal Court returned a shocking 5-0 unanimous decision to dismiss Anwar’s appeal, as even the most pessimistic about Anwar’s chances believing that he would lose in the Federal Court appeal had expected either a 3-2 verdict or at worst a 4-1 decision.

Everybody was floored by the unanimous 5-0 decision. There were not only no dissenting judgment, there was no other judgment from the five-member Federal Court quorum, apart from the single judgment by the Chief Justice, Tun Arifin Zakaria!

Anwar may have lost in the courts of the Malaysian judiciary, but he has won two battles in the first week of his five-year jail sentence – firstly, the court of public opinion in Malaysia and secondly, the court of international opinion, as it will not be easy to find another Federal Court judgment in the past two decades which had met with such instant universal condemnation, not only inside the country but also outside. Continue reading “DAP’s SSS (Support Sympathy Solidarity) Anwar Ceramah has 3SAVE objectives – to save Anwar from prison, to save Pakatan Rakyat from disintegration and to save Malaysia from becoming a “failed state””

by Eileen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
2 February 2015

Flood victims in the east coast state of Kelantan, who lost their homes in last year’s floods, will get help rebuilding their houses and receive a wage if they do the work themselves under DAP’s Impian Kelantan programme.

The Pakatan Rakyat component party is collaborating with 39 local non-governmental organisations to identify and build new homes for more than 30,000 people displaced by the floods late last year, which were the worst to hit the peninsula.

Villagers will be given a sum of money for picking up tools to build their own homes as a way to boost their income, especially since many had lost their livelihoods in the agricultural and farming sector, said DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke Siew Fook.

The money will come from funds the party raised from the public late last year to assist flood victims.

“We have already identified some of the villagers and have started work in rebuilding their homes. Continue reading “DAP’s Impian Kelantan to pay flood victims to rebuild own homes”

In the floods disaster last year which hit the East Coast States, Kelantan faced the worst floods catastrophe within living memory in Malaysia.

Tonight’s launch of Gabungan Impian Kelantan comprising at present of 39 NGOs and political groups is the upshot of the 2014 Floods which saw the rise of the NGOs (non-government organizations) and NGIs (non-government individuals), both in Kelantan and elsewhere in Malaysia, who played a most sterling role in the floods catastrophe to come to the aid of the flood victims where the government failed in all three phases of a disaster management – response, relief and reconstruction.

It was not possible to avoid the 2014 floods catastrophe, but the damage could have been minimized as not to lead to the loss of 25 lives, creating a million floods victims with quarter of million flood evacuees, and causing billions of ringgit of damages if there had been better floods management preparedness and plans in all three phases of response, relief and reconstruction.

Furthermore I shudder to think of the damages and sufferings the people in Kelantan and other East Coast States had to undergo if NGOs and NGIs had not risen up to come to the aid of the stricken and stranded flood victims which the government had not been able to help, not for one day but for several days at a stretch, leaving the flood victims without food, water, shelter, electricity or communications.

This was why I had consistently called for the declaration of an emergency to centralize all resources whether assets or personnel, particularly military and police, to as to provide the quickest aid to the most needy as the first step of an adequate response to the worst floods catastrophe within living memory and why subsequently I also called for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the causes and weaknesses, lapses and failures revealed by the floods catastrophe in terms of disaster management preparedness and planning. Continue reading “PAS Kelantan State Government should establish public inquiry into the handling of the 2014 Floods Catastrophe to find out the weaknesses, lapses and failures so that the state will be better prepared to face future flood disasters”

A Shukur Harun
The Malaysian Insider
27 January 2015

Walaupun dilihat kemelut dalam Pakatan Rakyat (PR), terutamanya antara pemimpin PAS dan DAP berterusan, tetapi ada perkembangan baru yang melegakan hati yang memungkinkan keharmonian wujud kembali dalam PR.

Dalam masa yang sama, sudah ada tanda PAS dan Persatuan Ummah Sejahtera Malaysia (PasMa), tidak lagi dilihat dalam suasana permusuhan.

Pada peringkat bawahan, yakni akar umbi, antara pendukung PasMa dan PAS kelihatan tidak ada masalah, justeru mereka dari keluarga besar yang tidak mungkin dipisahkan hanya kerana perbezaan pendapat.

Sementara itu, ada perkembangan yang menarik di peringkat akar umbi PAS dan DAP yang tercetus ketika banjir merempuh Kelantan dan negeri lain baru-baru ini.

Pemimpin utama DAP, Lim Kit Siang dan anaknya, Lim Guan Eng datang sendiri ke Kelantan memberikan bantuan kepada mangsa banjir, di mana Lim Kit Siang yang turut mengharungi banjir sudah 3 kali ke sana. Continue reading “Kemelut dalam Pakatan boleh selesai”

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. Continue reading “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!”

The National Security Council (NSC) is looking for excuses to justify its weaknesses, lapses and failures by making the hyperbolic and ridiculous claim that the Kelantan floods was like Japan’s 2011 tsunami.

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 earthquake struck Japan off Tohoku, generating a 10-metre high tsunami that swept away everything in its path and caused a nuclear disaster with the meltdown of Fukushima and other nuclear power plants.

It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded to have hit Japan and the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world since modern record-keeping began in 1900.

The earthquake triggered powerful tsunami waves that reached heights of up to 40.5 metres (133ft) and travelled up to 10 km (6 miles) inland.

The Japanese National Police Agency confirmed that the triple catastrophes caused 15,889 deaths, 6,152 injured and 2,601 people missing across twenty prefectures, as well as over 127,290 buildings totally collapsed, with a further 272,788 buildings “half-collapsed” and another 747,989 buildings partially damaged.

The main tremoir split highways, flattened buildings and ignited fires all over the northeastern Pacific coast. The ensuing tsunami wiped out entire villages.

As many as 4.4 million households in northeastern Japan were left without electricity and 1.5 million without water.
Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated when the tsunami caused nuclear accidents primarily at the three nuclear reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant complex.

The World Bank estimated economic cost of the triple disasters in Japan in March 2011 as US$235 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster in world history. Continue reading “National Security Council (NSC) is looking for excuses to justify its weaknesses, lapses and failures by making the hyperbolic and ludicrous claim that Kelantan floods was like Japan’s 2011 tsunami”

Malaysians must be very disappointed that despite calls from many quarters, the Barisan Nasional Government had failed to declare a state of emergency, limited in place and time, over the worst floods catastrophe in living memory, affecting millions of people, evacuated a quarter of a million people, cost 23 lives and caused losses running into billions of ringgit.

It even created flood history in Malaysia in knocking out the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak who subsequently claimed that he was also a flood victim – “confining him to bed for days” due to the infection with E. Coli bacteria while visiting flood-affected states.

Actually, Najib was a flood-victim twice over, as he was forced to cut short his vacation in Hawaii earlier, returning to Malaysia on a commercial flight, creating a mystery as to the whereabouts of the government official jet which had flown Najib Hawaii in the first place.

The Cabinet should revisit the question why an emergency was not declared for the worst floods catastrophe in living memory, and the Prime Minister should give an assurance that in future disasters of such magnitude, the Federal Government would not fail in its duty to declare a state of emergency to mobilise the entire national resources, particularly the 150,000-strong armed forces, to render the quickest help and relief to the disaster victims. Continue reading “Cabinet should revisit the question why an emergency was not declared for the worst floods catastrophe in living memory, affecting millions of people, evacuated a quarter of a million people, cost 23 lives and caused losses running into billions of ringgit and give assurance an emergency would be declared for future disasters”

The Cabinet tomorrow should do what it should have done at its last Cabinet meeting for 2014 on Dec. 17 – to convene a Special meeting of Parliament this month to present a revised Budget 2015.

When the Budget 2015 was drawn up, it was based on the oil price assumption of US$100 (RM357) per barrel.

Since the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak presented Budget 2015 on Oct. 25, Brent crude prices had fallen from US$100 to a six year-low of US$47.36.

Oil and gas-related income is a backbone of the Malaysian economy as it currently accounts for 30% of the government’s total revenue.
With the plunge in crude oil prices, the Government is duty-bound to revise the 2015 Budget and seek parliamentary approval for revision of the 2015 Budget.

The Cabinet should decide on convening a Special Parliament before the end of January now that Prime Minister who is also Finance Minsiter has finally conceded today on the need to restructure the 2015 Budget. Continue reading “Call on Cabinet tomorrow to convene a special Parliamentary meeting end of this month to present a revised 2015 Budget”

BY ZURAIRI AR
PUBLISHED: JANUARY 13, 2015 07:02 AM
The Malay Mail Online

Volunteers from Penang-based Buddhist Tzu-Chi Merits Society Malaysia help residents of Manek Urai to clean up after the flood. ― Pictures by Yusof Mat Isa

KUALA KRAI, Jan 13 ― After weeks of devastating floods, a palpable air of excitement replaced the forlorn mood at the village of Kg Manek Urai Lama here across the weekend.

Struggling under the burden of a disorganised clean-up after arguably the worst floods to hit the state in decades, the residents had seemingly been at a lost.
Continue reading “Buddhist volunteers bring work and cheer in Manek Urai”

By Zurairi AR
The Malay Mail Online
January 11, 2015

KUALA KRAI, Jan 11 ― Schools here reopened today for the start of the new year, but students in flood-stricken Manek Urai have yet to commence with lessons as cleanups are expected to last another week.

Clad in colourful casual attire and rubber slippers instead of the usual white-and-navy-blue uniforms, the students in SK Manek Urai here spent their time lounging around gawking at army personnel and volunteers, from their still wet classrooms.

This month marks the first anniversary of Yusof Ismail, 49, as the school’s headmaster after transferring from his hometown of Tanah Merah last year.

He admitted that the floods, which submerged two of the schools four storeys, were a major setback.

“It’s my personal challenge this year, to rebuild this school from the ground up. I am starting from square one now,” Yusof, with his black pants tucked inside a pair of yellow rubber boots, told Malay Mail Online during a visit this morning. Continue reading “In Manek Urai, school’s in but mud and water keep classes from starting”

The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday that Malaysian experts will be engaged by the Government to determine the cause of recent floods and how to mitigate them in future.

The Star report “Experts to be engaged to check floods” quoted Najib as saying yesterday at the official launch of Menara Razak at Universiti Tecknologi Malaysia (UTM): “The issue has been raised in the Cabinet and we have decided we must know the factors that cause the disaster.”
Najib said the Government believed there was sufficient local expertise to conduct the relevant studies.

He said: “We want our experts to guide the Government on what needs to be done both in terms of mitigation as well as sustainable development”.
I find Najib’s announcement most disappointing.

While I welcome an investigation into the worst flood disaster in living memory, the exclusion of the inquiry into the failures of the National Security Council (NSC) in making proper Floods Disaster Relief, Mitigation and Management Preparedness will only perpetuate the government’s denial syndrome and cover-up complex. Continue reading “Call on Najib to reconsider a RCI into the 2014-2015 floods catastrophe as any investigation which excludes inquiry into the failures of National Security Council in making proper Floods Disaster Relief, Mitigation and Management Preparedness will only perpetuate denial syndrome and cover-up complex”

The Cabinet yesterday, the first in three weeks since the worst floods catastrophe in living memory which has claimed at least 23 lives, evacuated a quarter of a million flood victim to relief centres, affected over a million people and caused losses to the tune of billions of ringgit, is a great disappointment and letdown.

It failed to address anyone of the five central issues of the floods catastrophe I had highlighted in my email to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Sunday, in particular on the declaration of a state of emergency to more efficiently and swiftly deal with the post-flood challenges and dangers, the convening of a Special Parliament and a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Floods Disaster Management Preparedness, apart from setting up a Barisan Nasional-Pakatan Rakyat Flood Action Council and the allocation of RM500 million as interest-free loans to the flood victims to start life and business anew, ranging from RM1,000 to RM250,000 loans.

When Deputy Prime Minister and the Chairman of the National Security Council, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was in Kelantan on Tuesday to chair the Kelantan post-flood co-ordination plan committee, he said the damage to public properties amounted to RM932.4 million, but the damage data reported by the various ministries and government agencies in the following cases have already exceeded RM1.6 billion, viz:

(i) Damaged school properties in Kelantan and other states – RM500 million;

(ii) Repair of damaged roads and slopes – RM434 million;

(iii) Repair of damaged railway stations and tracks – RM250 million;

(iv) Ministry of Local Government clean-up operations only in Kelantan: RM200 million;

(v) Ministry of Health repair to hospitals and clinics – RM270 million

(vi) Repair of damaged police stations – RM15 million.

Not all Ministries and government agencies have announced their damage assessments and the above are not the final estimates of the of repair needed to restore to the position pre-flood situation. Continue reading “Cabinet meeting yesterday a great disappointment as it did not address anyone of the five central issues I had highlighted in my email to Najib – in particular on emergency; Special Parliament and RCI on Flood Disaster Management Preparedness”

Malay Mail Online
January 6, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak contracted E.coli food poisoning spending just a few days in flooded areas, signalling just how easily an epidemic could break out from the flooding disaster, DAP’s Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud said today.

The political secretary to DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang pointed out that victims of one of the worst floods to hit Malaysia in decades have spent weeks in high-risk conditions — with little sanitation and limited access to clean water and medicine.

“The water may have subsided and those who still have homes may have returned to them, but there is now an urgent need to take steps to prevent an epidemic from breaking out,” Dyana Sofya said in a statement.

“It is almost a certainty that thousands of victims, both adults, children and elderly alike, are currently exposed to contaminated floodwater and have not been eating nutritional food. With their morale and immune system at their worst, they are certainly at risk,” she added. Continue reading “If Najib can succumb to E.coli, flood victims surely at risk, says Dyana Sofya”

Terence Fernandez
The Malaysian Insider
7 January 2015

The end of the school term in November usually marked the beginning of an annual pilgrimage for all the items on the ground floor of our teachers’ quarters unit in Kuala Krai, Kelantan.

It was when we would start moving our furniture, electrical items and other valuables to the top floor of our home. After that laborious work, which usually took two days, we would make a dash for it to my grandmother’s house in Tapah, Perak, to celebrate Christmas.

A quick exit from Kelantan was necessary to avoid road closures and dangerous driving conditions because of the annual floods.

There were years when we decided to tempt Mother Nature and stayed put. Some years we were lucky, as the waters did not enter the house, other years we were not so lucky, like one Christmas Eve when our living room started flooding while my mother was busy preparing Christmas dinner in the kitchen.

In any case, we considered ourselves lucky as the waters usually stopped three steps shy of entering the top floor. There was also Mrs Bala who lived in a bungalow on a hill behind our house which would be our refuge until the waters receded.

Fed up with the annual ritual, my parents bought a house in another part of town – paying a premium as this was a “flood-free” area.

Well, it was flood-free for the last 23 years until last December when the entire ground floor was inundated. The family were in Kuala Lumpur, hence there was no one to salvage our belongings, including a piano and my father’s 1978 classic Toyota Celica. Continue reading “Bracing for another ‘adik tsunami’”

Today, accompanied by the former Bersih co-chairman and patron of Negara-Ku, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, DAP MPs Anthony Loke (Seremban), Liew Chin Tong (Kluang), DAP State Assembly members Lee Chin Chen (Ketari- Pahang), Wong May Ing (Pantai Remis) and DAP and social activists in four FWDs, with a container of essential supplies for Manek Urai, I made my third flood victims relief mission to Kelantan.

We left Kuala Lumpur at 5 am, first stop at Bentong for breakfast, arriving in Gua Musang before 10 am, where we were given a briefing by DAP and PAS Gua Musang leaders on the floods devastation in Gua Musang beginning on Winter Solstice (Dongzhi festival) on Dec. 22, 2014.

Gua Musang, which literally means “Cave of the Civet”, is the largest of the 10 districts in Kelantan and Gua Musang town had never experienced serious flooding before.

It therefore took the people in Gua Musang by complete surprise when Gua Musang, together with Kuala Krai (another district which had never suffered serious flooding before) became the two worst flood-stricken areas in the December 2014 floods catastrophe.

When we visited Gua Musang town, the people were busy valiantly trying to clean up their houses, shops and inns – a puny effort compared to the enormous ravages caused by the floods.

It was two weeks since Gua Musang had been stricken by the unprecedented floods catastrophe, with water as high as 10 to 12 ft, submerging the whole town but Gua Musang still looked forlorn and desolate.

From the slow pace of recovery that I saw in Gua Musang, the Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yaakob may be right when he said that Kelantan will need at least six months to fully recover from the devastation of the worst floods that hit the state in the past few weeks.

But six months to recover from the devastation of the floods catastrophe is too long and will impose great problems and grave burdens on the flood victims in Kelantan.

This is why there must be a total change of mindset of the Federal, state and local authorities to ensure that this recovery period is slashed from “at least six months” to two months, and why a declaration of state of emergency to centralize and mobilise all available resources to help the floods victims in Gua Musang and other parts of Kelantan to start life anew after the devastation of the floods is urgent and imperative.

During the worst of the floods catastrophe, an emergency is needed to save lives. In the post-flood scenario, an emergency is needed to restore living and ensure livelihood – to help the flood victims rebuild life and business anew in the shortest possible time. Continue reading “Calls for strict audit that government had spent RM800 million on flood victims as Kelantan entitled to ask where the money had gone as it should get RM500 – RM600 million as the worst flood-stricken state”