UMNO Pahang in large-scale stealing of flood relief aid
In another estate area with almost 600 Indian flood victims, the UMNO 'volunteers' delivered just one sack of rice to be shared by 600 Indian estate workers and their children. Many of the Indian estate women became hysterical and screamed how 600 people were going to share one bag of rice.
By Little Bird
Today, Sunday, 23 December 2007, we were in Pahang helping a NGO with flood relief work. We collected food and blankets from warehouses and trucked them to a distribution centre. From there the supplies were bagged and packed up. Other volunteers and village people then came to pick up these supplies. Over the past six days, many of the volunteers had been working until 2.00am packing and sending the flood aid directly to the kampongs.
The mainstream media like NST, Star and Utusan Malaysia have been making false reports that all the flood relief work is going on smoothly. This is the farthest thing from the truth. There is widespread stealing of flood aid going on in Pahang, carried out by UMNO Pahang in a very systematic and organised manner.
In Temerloh, two trailers full of rice went missing three days ago. The two trailers were despatched from the Bilik Gerakan Banjir or Flood Relief Operations Centre which is manned and run entirely by 'volunteers' who are from the UMNO Bahagian Temerloh. Rice wholesalers in Temerloh informed our staffers that some people came by later and offered to sell them a lorry load of rice at 'half price'. More on the modus operandi of this stealing later.
NGOs have also stopped cooperating with the UMNO run Bilik Gerakan after a very sad and disgusting incident. Staffers from different NGOs had accompanied some of the food and other flood aid from the Bilik Gerakan to some villages. At one particular badly hit area, people of all races, i.e. Chinese, Indians and Malays, lined up to get the food. However, the UMNO 'volunteers' informed the people very crudely that the food and other flood aid was only for the Malays. The Indians and Chinese did not get any. The staffers from the NGOs which included Indians, Chinese and Malays were shocked and left in disgust.
In another estate area with almost 600 Indian flood victims, the UMNO 'volunteers' delivered just one sack of rice to be shared by 600 Indian estate workers and their children. The sack of rice was left at a flood relief centre located in a Tamil primary school near the estate. Then the estate workers were asked to initial a list acknowledging that they had received a complete set of flood supplies (rice, oil, canned food, sugar, salt, bottled water and blankets). Obviously the remaining supplies had been hijacked by the UMNO 'volunteers' and sold off for cash elsewhere.
Many of the Indian estate women became hysterical and screamed how 600 people were going to share one bag of rice. The next day when other volunteers went to the same Tamil school, the Indian women screamed at them and said 'Melayu jangan mari tolong lagi'.
In other places the aid was given to UMNO members only. Other Malays, especially known Pas supporters, were denied aid. These stories are not being made up. They are first hand reports from Pahang that were told to us by flood relief workers themselves.
In another area, about 250 Orang Asli were promised 50kg bags of rice. This was clearly a false promise because most of the rice was delivered in 5kg or 10kg bags. The rice destined for the 250 Orang Asli was despatched by the Bilik Gerakan but it never reached the Orang Asli. When the UMNO ADUN from the area visited the Orang Asli the next day and inquired if they had all 'sudah makan', they jeered him and said 'awak semua penipu'. Again the rice had been hijacked by the UMNO 'volunteers' and siphoned off elsewhere.
For the first seven days of the floods, the Member of Parliament for Temerloh, YB Mohd Sarit bin Haji Yusoh (Tel. No. 03 – 77266005 and 03- 7726 4468, address: Pangkal Melati Sdn Bhd, No 18-1, Jalan Wan Kadir 4, Off Jalan Damansara Bypass, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur), Anwar Ibrahim's one-time political secretary who became a millionaire within a couple of years, was missing from Temerloh. He had not visited any of the flood affected areas. Flood victims put up a banner in the Temerloh area asking 'YB where are you?' This banner was later torn down by the Police. All this news was not reported by the mainstream media.
The Chinese MCA ADUN from Mentakab has been one of the few Wakil Rakyat doing the rounds diligently in the flood affected areas. The Malay UMNO ADUNs have made themselves scarce or helping themselves to the loot from the Bilik Gerakan.
Because of the dishonesty and outright stealing by the UMNO 'volunteers', flood victims are very angry and tensions have been high in the affected areas. The mainstream media have not reported that when Fu Ah Kiow, Deputy Internal Security Minister and MP for Kuantan, visited the affected areas, the flood victims screamed and threw stones at him. The Deputy Minister had to leave the scene in a hurry.
Here is how UMNO Pahang is stealing the flood aid. They are using the Bilik Gerakan or Flood Relief Operations Centres which are manned by 'volunteers' from the various UMNO Bahagian. These UMNO runners control the lorries and also the list of recipients in the various areas. More importantly, they are in charge of purchasing the food supplies. The millions of Ringgit of taxpayers' money that is being dumped by the Government is channelled through these Bilik Gerakan. The UMNO 'volunteers' are asking suppliers and shopkeepers to issue them false receipts overstating the money that is being spent. For example if a 5kg bag of rice costs RM10.00, they ask the shopkeepers to write a receipt for RM60.00.
This means that upfront they steal RM50.00 of taxpayers money. Then the rice is stolen or hijacked and never delivered to the flood victims. Instead, the rice is taken and sold elsewhere for 'half price' like RM5.00 per bag. So, in total, they steal about RM55.00. The rice never reaches the flood victims. This widespread stealing by UMNO Pahang has been going on in Temerloh, Pekan and other areas in Pahang since the floods began.
Malaysians will be totally disgusted that things like this are going on in this country. But the worst is not what is happening on the ground in Pahang. After I returned from Pahang today, I visited the 'Portal Rasmi Negeri Pahang Darul Makmur' at this location :
http://www.pahang.gov.my/index.php?option=com_poll&task=results&id=21
This is the official website of the Pahang State Government. There, in the corner of their official website, the mother f*****s are running this opinion poll about the worst floods to hit Pahang since 1971: "Does flood effects our national economy?"
This is exactly the stupid English they have used. Grammar tak betul and wrong spelling.
Who gives a shit now if the floods 'effects' our national economy? Are the flood victims being helped enough or are they being fleeced?
Anyway, the total votes cast in this asinine poll is 30 of which 25 (80%) answered yes, 5 (16.7%) answered no and 1 person (me) answered 'No Comment'. P*ndek was not available.
A few NGO's and good Samaritans are doing a wonderful job contributing money, food and clothes and delivering them directly to the flood victims. The Orang Asli are especially grateful for the clothes that have been provided to them by one group of NGO volunteers from Kuala Lumpur. Honest and hard-working volunteers of all races, Chinese, Indians and Malays are still on the ground in Pahang helping flood victims of all races.
The flood waters have receded substantially in Pahang. Kampong people are able to start their lives again, tapping rubber or restarting their small businesses and so on. The best aid that is required now is cooked food. Kitchens were submerged, gas and dry firewood is still not available and stoves are all water logged. People still have problems cooking food. Mobile kitchens or volunteers who can cook and distribute food are still needed in Pahang and elsewhere. Temerloh is less than two hours drive from Kuala Lumpur. Please pass this information around.
