MARAN, Jan 9 ― For local grocer Aziz Sidek, the flood waters that have ravaged the roads and homes surrounding Kampong Paya Besar in the interior of Pahang is not the biggest threat to the Orang Asli community.

It is the rotting carcasses of animals and sewage left behind by the receding flood waters.

Aziz, who runs a small grocery store not far from the village, also believes that this stench of death and decay is a bad omen and an indication that the problems for his community won't end even after the monsoon season is over.

“After the floods, the winds will blow the bad smell our way and just by smelling it you will start to feel sick,” the smartly-dressed Aziz told Malay Mail Online when met here on Tuesday.

Aziz's fears reflect a growing concern which has yet to be addressed by both state and federal authorities in tackling the aftermath of the unforgiving floods which affected over eight states in peninsular Malaysia and at one point displaced more than 240,000 people.

He said that although people still flock to his store to buy essential goods such as rice, sugar, cooking oil, there has been a noticeable growing demand for basic medical supplies.

“The kids here, they are starting to ask for Panadol, cough syrup, minyak angin for those who have upset tummies,” Aziz added, saying basic medical aid won't be enough if many villagers suddenly fall sick as a result of the floods.

“I can go to the nearest town area to buy my stuff… but the prices have changed, the prices have increased exorbitantly,” he explained in Malay.

Sixty-four-year-old handyman Amok Sin Chua said that almost every year after the annual floods season, locals will definitely fall ill due to unhygienic conditions. 

“We call it cirit berpulas [twisted diarrhoea]... the pain will come slowly here,” he told Malay Mail Online, pointing to his tummy.

“We have basic medicine supplies, but this time the floods have been anything but ordinary, we have to prepare, and we do not know whether what we have is enough,” he added.

Amok said he heard news that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak contracted E.coli food poisoning after visiting areas affected by the floods.

“I pity him,” said the villager in Malay, smiling.

“If that is the case, it is not unusual for everyone to fall ill,” he added.

The Prime Minister's Office announced on Tuesday that Najib was fighting an E.coli infection, believed to be food poisoning, after visiting flood-affected areas.

E.coli or the Escherichia coli (E.coli) is a bacteria that is widely found in the human intestine. Certain strains can cause mild to severe food poisoning symptoms. Infection can happen if water or food contaminated by human or animal feces is consumed.

But the prime minister has since recovered and resumed official duties.

Jacob Chor, a volunteer with the Kuala Lumpur Methodist Church, said that there has been an increasing demand by Orang Asli villages for basic medical supplies.

“In our smaller relief missions to these areas, there are now requests for items like Panadol, cough syrup, band aids and face masks,” he said.

DAP's Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud has said that an epidemic could very well break out from the flooding disaster, if even PM Najib himself could fall ill, and that victims have spent weeks in high-risk conditions ― with little sanitation and limited access to clean water and medicine.