JANUARY 21 — The monsoon season is here again in Malaysia and as expected, flash floods are reported in almost every state where rivers or coasts are near roads, residential, business properties or farms. Every year there are centres that open for residents and all those affected by these floods and yes, every year politicians and elected representatives will be there to share their heartfelt sadness with these victims. Could it be that our engineers are so backward that we can’t even put forward long-term plans to overcome these flash floods, or there is a lack of will?
If a country like the Netherlands can surround itself with dykes and become successful, there is no excuse for us not to learn from their examples. We even have roads built under the sea today and many cities built near coastal areas and river deltas are not affected by flash floods. Surely, they must have done something to mitigate rising waters and sudden downpours, and have been successful at it too.
The economic losses from these flash floods are enormous if calculated, and more importantly these represent our lack of will power to overcome them. Our annual outlay grants for victims of floods and repairs will continue as long as there are no steps taken to address the issues on a holistic long-term basis. Maybe we should even spend less on our military hardware expenditure and put the money to better use in overcoming the annual floods, as seriously, do we expect to be attacked by our neighbors any time soon?
Malaysian engineers and planners are gifted people and they should be given the task of coming up with a masterplan to build countermeasures to prevent flash floods in the country. It may take years to do so but at least we know that future generations will be protected from these problems and businesses will not have to suffer losses annually. If we are aiming to become a developed nation, these flash floods are indeed an embarrassment to visitors and investors as even our capital city can be flooded at times. We know that the issues can be overcome if the will power is there.
* Philip Wong is Director of the Sarawak Institute for Public Affairs (SIPA).
** This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
