KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 — Putrajaya should consider absorbing the Sabah mountain guides who helped save Mount Kinabalu climbers last week after the earthquake, into the national disaster rescue unit, a Barisan Nasional MP suggested today.

Sepanggar MP Datuk Jumat Idris called on the government to employ the mountain guides or ‘malims’ whose livelihoods have been affected by the temporary closure of Mount Kinabalu, into the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART).

He said that the guides’ skills have also been proven to be better than that of the SMART team members.

“I call on the government to absorb them into the SMART team… even our own SMART team, by the time they reach the peak, they are tired out, but not these malims.

“So I urge the government to look into their future and upgrade them to become SMART members,” he said, adding that the guides can be useful in the wake of an earthquake.

The 5.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Sabah last Friday is said to be Malaysia’s strongest earthquake in 39 years.

The Sabah government also declared yesterday, June 8, as a day of mourning to pay tribute to the victims.

In the aftermath of the earthquake, Sabah also experienced 51 aftershocks up until noon two days ago,  since the deadly incident that hit the state on Friday.

Sabah Meteorological Department director Abdul Malek Tussin said that the subsequent earthquakes were categorised as weak, but some were felt all over the Ranau, Kundasang, Kota Belud, Tuaran and Kota Kinabalu region.