“Brownie…you’ve done a heck of a job”
That comment best illustrate how President Bush mishandled the Katrina disaster. Despite New Orleans inundated by floods with more than 1800 people dead and an estimated USD 81 billion in property loss, Bush made just one flyover, viewing the situation from the comfort of his Air Force One. And then came that out-of-touch comment that forever defines the Bush Administration for its incompetence. The Katrina case shows that natural disaster politics can be unforgiving to insensitive political office bearers. Unfortunately, PM Najib Administration today is risking doing the same thing.
The last few days saw heavy rainfall on the Peninsular’s East Coast, battering Kemaman – Kuantan area the most. More than 20 thousands people are displaced as homes submerged by rising water, many at the roof level. Electricity and water supplies are cut-off, cellular communication is almost non-existent, heavy rains are damaging roads, creating dangerous potholes and reducing visibility. For most of Monday and Tuesday, all routes into and out of Kemaman were cut off. Words are simply not enough to describe the severity of the problem.
Despite the extraordinary situation, government’s response has been mostly business-as-usual and tepid. The apparent disinterest from mainstream news media is mind-boggling thus one wonder if there a directive from the high office somewhere to give more coverage on the on-goings at the UMNO General Assembly then the unraveling flood crisis in the east coast? So this is Rakyat didahulukan?
For sure, news media slow and scant coverage of the floods has resulted in people depending more on unverified information from blogs, IMs and SMSes. This can be dangerous as in time of crisis, unverified information can lead to panic and making it difficult to make life-saving plans. Not helping is government information delivery system such as PublicInfoBanjir and PortalMKN, oftenly crash under burden of heavy usage. The government must immediately increase server and bandwidth capacity to ensure uninterrupted 24/7 access.
The reluctance to announce both Kuantan and Kemaman as localized emergency zone is also beyond comprehension. Declaring emergency will allow the army to go in, relieving some burden off from the public response team that has been working non-stop since Sunday night.
Even the parliament took light of the problem with that one MP from Kinabatangan in particular making monkey-mocking statement when the Kuantan MP propose an emergency motion on the matter. Isn’t it ironic that the UMNO General Assembly launched a disaster fund for The Phillipines’ Haiyaan typhoon victims while help at our own backyard is still found wanting?
PAS Youth has fully mobilized its Unit Amal assets to assist flood victims. Its also heartening to see volunteerism goes full swing as concerned public, university students and flood victims themselves prepare food and provide drinking water to stranded families. But there is a strong sense of feeling on the ground that the government should do more, and can do more to help.
For now, the Prime Minister and his consultants are surely living in the Sri Perdana bubble. For God’s sake dear PM, your home state is in crisis! Do something please.
IR Khairil Nizam Khirudin
PAS Youth Vice Chief.
