As crisis deepens, PAS passes flood woes buck to Putrajaya

(Malay Mail Online) – Faced with increasing pressure over the floods inundating Kelantan, the PAS state government said only a long-term solution can work to end the seasonal monsoon crisis, adding that the responsibility lies with the federal government.

Shrugging off criticism from MCA that the state government has done little to mitigate the rising floodwaters from the many rivers dotting the northeast state, Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah pointed out that Putrajaya had control of the agencies managing  irrigation and sewerage.

He also said the state government had embarked on projects to deepen the rivers to prevent water from spilling over but this was insufficient to contain the problem, which he described as the “Allah’s will”.

“We have in the past tried to deepen the rivers and all but if the rain keeps pouring what can we do? Disasters are Allah’s will. No humans can stop it,” he told Malay Mail Online when contacted yesterday.

“Plus sewerage is the responsibility of the federal government. Isn’t it JPS’s job?” he asked, referring to the Department of Irrigation and Sewerage, a federal agency, by its abbreviation in Malay.

Mohd Amar continued to say that unlike what was claimed by its critics, the Kelantan government has deployed relief efforts around the clock.

It also has a task force set up to tackle the flood problems including evacuation and paramedic teams to attend to victims.

“So why is the MCA making so much noise? It’s only them who are making the noise. We over here are all okay,” he said.

PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub told a press conference at the party’s headquarters that Kelantan PAS lawmakers have often raised the sewerage problems in the state to Putrajaya “in every (Parliament) sessions”.

“They never seem to take notice,” he added.

PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali at the same press conference said the Kelantan government do have flood mitigation programmes but are often short of funds.

He also echoed Mohd Amar’s views that it was wrong to blame anyone for the floods as natural disasters happen anywhere despite human efforts to contain it.

“No one can stop natural disasters. You have floods even in countries like the US and China,” he said.

Yesterday, MCA’s women’s wing told the PAS-led Kelantan government today to focus all attention on helping flood victims instead of fixating on next week’s special hudud assembly sitting, as evacuee numbers continue to climb along with floodwaters in the state.

The BN party’s wing chief Heng Seai Kie accused the state of ignoring the needs of its own people by obsessing over plans to implement the controversial Islamic penal code in Kelantan.

“Kelantan state is enduring its worst flood disaster with 26,137 Kelantan residents evacuated as of 24 December 2014, yet the Kelantan state government remains obsessed solely on implementing hudud law, in total neglect of the severity of the situation and the flood victims’ difficulties,” she said in a statement here.

She said Kelantan Mentri Besar Ahmad Yakob has “insisted” that the state proceed with plans to hold the sitting, which expects to pass amendments to the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment 1993 on hudud.

The move is in preparation for PAS’s plan to table in Parliament a private member’s bill to amend the Federal Constitution, which would subsequently allow Kelantan to implement hudud law in the state.

Tens of thousands in peninsular Malaysia, largely in the east coast states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang have had to be evacuated from their homes due to floods in various districts over the past couple of weeks.

National news agency Bernama reported this morning 132,684 people have been forced to leave their flooded homes nationwide.

The floods have sent 55,960 people in Kelantan to relief centres, up from 45,467 last night.

In Islamic jurisprudence, hudud covers crimes such as theft, robbery, adultery, rape and sodomy. Punishments for the crimes are severe, including amputation, flogging and death by stoning.