Klang MP threatens to drag Public Works Department to court over monsoon drain cleaning schedule

KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — Klang MP Charles Santiago has issued a legal threat to the Public Works Department (PWD) should the agency continue to ignore his calls urging the department to review its periodic cleaning of monsoon drains in his area.

In his debate on the royal address in Parliament, Charles also labelled the current cleaning schedule by the PWD as a “stupid act”, adding that it does not make sense, given the rainfall frequency.

“Your honourable, at the end of the day, the rakyat wants a solution. The people are looking for solutions. Climate change is a phenomenon that is here to stay, and we find that with the continuous rainfall and excessive water distribution, it clearly has an impact, causing the drainage system in Klang to be unable to hold that much water.

“For the Malaysian B40 people, this flood is a double-whammy, because there was a loss of employment and income during the Covid-19 pandemic and now, they must bear the loss of property, vehicles, furniture which reaches about RM30,000 to RM40,000 per household. So this burdens the people. So, for the Klang area, I have made many requests to the PWD, but the PWD is silent. Mute. I asked them to review the frequency of monsoon drain cleaning works in Klang to once a week, from what is available now, which is once in six months under the public works concession.

“This doesn’t make sense. How did they make this concession agreement to clean the drain once every six months? This is a stupid act, sir!” Charles exclaimed.

Charles lamented that he had been awaiting a reply from the PWD since December, when he had raised the issue and again in January during the special parliamentary sitting after the devastating December floods.

“And now, for the third time. After this, I will give a commitment, I will drag the PWD to court to clean the drains in Klang. You watch, I will do it!” he added.

Charles also suggested that the Environment and Water Ministry (Kasa) and the government set up a special flood commission, to investigate and provide suggestions for an overall long-term plan to address the possibility of cities in Malaysia being submerged.

“I feel this can be led by local and foreign experts to investigate flood disasters and prepare a more comprehensive national climate adaptation plan. The request to set up a special flood commission is fair. It’s fair. Considering that six states have experienced tragedies due to floods in the past few months involving the loss of lives — 46 Malaysian children have died due to floods, loss of property and disruption of social and economic life,” he added.

Charles also suggested that the government consider forming a disaster relief force and a disaster relief research and training centre, adding that these institutions can “complete” the National Disaster Management Agency’s (Nadma) work, which he termed as being “very, very lacking and weak” presently.

In December last year, Klang Valley experienced one of its worst flash floods in recent history, severely affecting areas such as Shah Alam, Klang and Kuala Lumpur — displacing thousands, killing 25 people and causing losses worth RM3.1 billion in Selangor.

Earlier today, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok questioned Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim if he still stands by his 2013 statement that Malaysia had the best flood management system.

This comes a day after flash floods hit the city centre which crippled traffic and caused massive property loss.

During her debate on the royal address in Parliament, Kok took out a copy of the article quoting the Federal Territories minister, when he was then a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.

“I am not sure where (was) the Arau MP, the Federal Territory minister. Was he in Kuala Lumpur or Johor, and if he did witness the terribleness which happened in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

“The minister’s old statement dated November 25, 2013 in mStar.com about how the flood management in Malaysia is among the best compared to other nations including the United States also went viral on social media yesterday. At that time, the Arau MP was also the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department overseeing disasters.

“I would like to ask if the Arau MP still believes the statement which he made at that time? So now that the Arau MP has become the Federal Territories minister, I want to ask what are his feelings and his plans,” Kok said.