KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 — A royal commission of inquiry (RCI) is needed to investigate Putrajaya's floods disaster management preparedness, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang said today, citing inadequacy in the National Security Council's (NSC) response to the chronic flooding.
The DAP parliamentary leader also demanded Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak convene a special Cabinet meeting tomorrow to address NSC's preparations and measures to tackle the flood crisis so far.
This was to judge whether there was a need to "censure and revamp" the council for failing to take charge of disaster preparations.
Lim pointed out that that NSC's admission that it was "overwhelmed" by the scale and scope of the floods disaster was a "weak excuse", adding that it was more shocking that the council only convened a single meeting — on January 3 — before the floods began.
Lim also rubbished the council’s attempts to draw parallels with flooding that was caused by a tsunami in Japan despite billions spent for flood mitigation,
"The NSC went on to absolve itself by claiming that what was happening in Malaysia now with regard to the floods disaster, especially Kelantan, was a similar example.
"The second NSC meeting under the chairmanship of (Tan Sri) Muhyiddin (Yassin) was on December 27, after the flood disaster had hit the country!" he said in a statement here.
Lim stressed that the two meetings showed neither a sense of responsibility nor seriousness on the part of NSC in taking charge of the nation’s floods disaster preparations and plans which have caused nearly a quarter of a million flood victims and evacuees.
He also said there were news reports that a medical evacuation mission for two mothers with severe labour complications was delayed on Sunday for almost two hours at the Badang health clinic due to "VVIP visits to flood-hit areas."
“Is this in accordance with the standard operating procedure (SOP) for disaster management that VVIP visits are given priority over patients in critical conditions?
"Could the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin reveal the full details of who are these VVIPs who had put at risk the lives of two mothers with severe labour complications at the Badang health clinic on Sunday, or must the question be directed to the Prime Minister himself?" the Gelang Patah MP asked.
The NSC has admitted its disaster management suffered a "complete collapse" at the district level in the peninsula's east coast, as its staff were among the hundreds of thousands beset by arguably the worst flooding in decades.
NSC secretary Datuk Mohamed Thajudeen Abdul Wahab was quoted by English daily The Star as saying that they were unable to execute their disaster management plan on the ground as their district level teams could not deploy.
Thajudeen said they were severely disadvantaged during the peak of the floods between December 23 and 27, when it had been virtually "impossible" to access many areas, especially with the lack of communication as power was cut to avoid electrocution.
A total of five deaths were recorded in Kelantan, three in Pahang and two in Terengganu to date, according to data published by the NSC on its website.
As at 8am today, a total of 235,218 people have been evacuated from their homes in Terengganu, Kelantan, Pahang, Perak, Johor, Perlis, Selangor and Kedah.
Although floodwaters are gradually receding in Kuala Krai and Kota Baru, meteorologists have warned that the worst is not yet over in Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu.
Reports continue to pour in on overcrowded shelters; intermittent communications services; shortage of food and water supply; rescue efforts hampered by power outages; and roads that have been washed away by the floods.
The extent of the worst flooding in decades has been such that Muhyiddin, who is overseeing the government’s flood relief efforts, has warned that floods are worse than anticipated, saying that assets currently deployed were inadequate to face the floods of such proportions.
