PM should announce readiness to face floods instead of date of dissolution of Parliament - GTA

SHAH ALAM - The Prime Minister should announce the government’s preparedness to deal with the floods in the coming months rather than the date of dissolution of Parliament.

Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) women chief Datin Che Asmah Ibrahim said pressuring for the 15th General Election (GE15) to be held during the monsoon season was “unreasonable”.

“The demand made by Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for GE15 to be held during the flood season was unreasonable.

“This also shows the true colours of Umno Barisan Nasional (BN) in determining the power dynamics in the country and did not even bother about the people’s struggles.

“What is important for them was to regain power to rule the country and free the “court cluster” among Umno leaders,” she said in a statement, today.

She said Malaysians should have already been able to judge the attitude of greed and desperation of Umno and BN in their effort to return to the ruling government without having a sense of responsibility to the people and the country’s fate.

Asmah who is also Pejuang women chief (Pejuanita) said the country should learn from the failure of BN and Perikatan Nasional (PN) in handling the flood catastrophe at the end of 2021.

This, she said, had caused loss of lives and property worth millions of ringgit in which damages have not been fully restored until today.

"This was especially when there was already a warning issued by the Meteorological Department that major floods would probably happen due to the La Nina and climate change affecting the whole world,” she said.

She said in such situation, a responsible government should be busy making preparations to face any possible major floods by completing the national resources data required to mobilise rescue and evacuation works to reduce the impact of floods on the people.

She added that cleaning works of the drainage system should also be carried out actively by the local government to prevent flash floods during heavy rains.

Such activities, she said should be monitored strictly and to be carried out more often.

“Monitoring and inspection of the sloping areas and environmentally sensitive areas should be carried out,” she said.