KUALA LUMPUR, March 21— Two Penang lawmakers today demanded that Putrajaya provide parity to Penangites in the one-off cash aid it provides to flood victims nationwide, as the amount given to Penang flood victims are half the amount given to victims elsewhere.
Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim and Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari, both from DAP, questioned if Penang citizens are being treated as “second class citizens” by Putrajaya.
Sim pointed out that while the government has pledged and also given RM 500 flood aid per family in other states, it is only giving out RM 250 per family in Penang, according to the Parliamentary written answer.
“When I requested in Parliament for the federal government to increase its aid to RM 500, the Minister replied that the government did not have enough budget for this,” Sim said, calling the answer “disappointing and shocking”.
“We are not asking them to match the contribution by the Penang state government, but only for them to match the flood aid given to victims in other states as promised by the Prime Minister,” he added.
Penang was devastated by a massive storm and subsequent flooding on November 7 last year, and Putrajaya said that its RM 5.4 million financial aid for the 21,869 affected families has been distributed starting March 11, which comes to RM 250 per family.
In 2015, Putrajaya provided RM500 for every family affected by floods in Kelantan and Pahang.
Earlier this year, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said that a similar aid would be provided to flood victims nationwide.
The Penang state government previously provided a RM 36.6 million aid for 52,353 families in the state affected by the floods, totalling to RM 700 per family.
