Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will be calling up the National Security Council (NSC) to find out what went wrong during the floods last December which affected nine states and saw some 400,000 people displaced.

PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed told The Edge Financial Daily that the interview had been set for March 30 and that they will question NSC secretary Datuk Thajudeen Abdul Wahab on the council’s planning and implementation in handling the disaster.

“This is where PAC is useful. We will strip NSC naked. Otherwise, as in the past, the Prime Minister’s Department will just say that they have done their own internal investigations, they will do ‘this and that improvement’ and it ends there.

“With PAC, we are going to grill them and prepare the report so people can see. But the next step is to make someone responsible and take action against that individual. Well, that’s up to the government. We can only recommend it,” said Nur Jazlan.

Besides NSC, Nur Jazlan will also call the Finance Ministry’s (MoF) secretary general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah to ensure that the flood relief funds and aid are channelled properly.

“For the time being we will only call NSC and the MoF. The state governments have their own state PAC. We want to know how they are monitoring and controlling the money that we send. And then the state PAC. I want to ask ‘what is PAC Kelantan doing’?

“What are [all] the state PACs doing? They should be holding their own hearings on how the district offices and the excos failed in doing their jobs,” said Nur Jazlan.

Addressing the complaints and allegations on the ground that there was a possibility of negligence by the operators of Lata Rek dam for failing to inform the authorities of rising water that triggered the automatic opening of the dam gates, Nur Jazlan said PAC might not question them if the operators are Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).

“TNB is under Khazanah, we cannot touch them without basis. It’s a listed company whose board is highly professional and PAC and the National Audit Department have no purview over them.

“However, in this case, NSC should have all the necessary data. It’s their responsibility to warn the public. We want to know why the dams failed. NSC should know about that,” he said.

When asked whether PAC will call the police and the military over complaints on their performance during the initial stages of the floods, Nur Jazlan said that might come at a later stage as the coordinating body is NSC (and should be accountable first).

PAC’s main concern over the whole issue is to ensure that the planning and preparedness for the next flood is as “watertight” as possible.

“One year ago we already gave warnings. The University of Edinburgh said that the end-of-the-year flood was getting worse because of climate change and they (NSC) can look at the data, based on predicted rainfall patterns.

“So they should keep things simple. They already know the rain is coming, they should have mobilised their teams to the villages to be on standby and advise them to prepare for evacuation. They should advise the folks that if possible ‘take your belongings and go on a holiday’.

“Or maybe just move your valuables to a safer place, like your car and so on.

“Of course there are issues of people being fearful of leaving their homes in case of burglaries and such. So, that’s when you deploy the army about a week before that. It’s not like our military has a lot of work to do anyway,” Nur Jazlan said.

Touching on the fact that PAS Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah complained that the Barisan Nasional-led federal agencies overrode them on aid and relief distribution, Nur Jazlan merely pointed out that the state government had its teams on the ground as well.

“He can’t put all the blame on them. The district officers are under him and the same with all the village heads. Why didn’t he mobilise these guys to give fair warning and so on? That’s the state government’s duty because in any other state the district officer plays a role,” he said.

On the public’s complaints that even previously flood-free areas on high ground were affected, he remarked: “I understand that but when you don’t use science, you will assume that this area is safe instead of looking at the overall picture like climate change, the felling of timber in water catchment areas, and the logging.

“So on that one, he (Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Dato Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah) has to answer. Is that all you do? Just administrative work? Come in the morning and fill in forms, rubber stamp it and go home at five? And when aid comes, just deliver it... any NGO can do that,” Nur Jazlan remarked sarcastically, referring to the state government’s criticism of the federal government’s flood relief effort at the height of the disaster.

 

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 3, 2015.

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