INSTITUTE for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) chief executive officer Wan Saiful Wan Jan is telling all parties to stop the wayang kulit over the flood rehabilitation programme.

“Of course this is politics masked as aid relief!”

“It is disappointing politicisation by both sides,” he told The Edge Financial Daily recently.

Wan Saiful agreed with the general belief that the joint committee is the platform for Umno-PAS unity talks.

He said that logically, when it comes to relief and rehabilitation, it is the federal government which channels funds to the state, which will then dispense the money to the local authorities.

“Why is Tok Pa (Mustapa) jointly heading the committee? Who is he in Kelantan?

“This is not respecting the choice that the Kelantan people have already made and disregards the whole idea of federalism,” he said, opining that the state government should have demanded for sole chairmanship of the rehabilitation committee.

Wan Saiful said this scenario also shows that the PAS government’s bargaining power is weak.

“With respect to Nik Amar, the floods highlight how federalism is not respected as the state government is so weak in running its own affairs. This shows how the federal government centralises everything, and that the state does not have its own money.

“All taxes are collected centrally. This is why states are so dependent on federal funding,” he explained.

“It is disappointing that the state is accepting this as the federal government is basically saying ‘you cannot be trusted to manage this money’”.

Wan Saiful said that while Kelantan had no choice but to accept the money as the state lacked the resources to provide the necessary flood aid, it should have announced to the people that it was doing so under duress.

“Any politician worth his salt should complain about the distrust and lack of respect, and that the State was armed twisted into accepting the money.

“Instead, they embrace the money as the next best thing after the coming of Islam!”

He also agrees that while to some, the flood exposed the inability of the Kelantan government to deal with major catastrophes, it is clear that the state is not receiving its dues from the federal government such as oil royalty.

“Kelantan had been bullied by the federal government for 20 years. They don’t have the resources that they should have.”

He suggested the formation of a Disasters Emergency Committee as in the United Kingdom, to bring together various NGOs to coordinate disaster relief.

“If government support is utilised through civil society, this will ensure rehab work aid is not politicised,” said Wan Saiful.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 2, 2015.