RM500 MILLION. Is that the price the Barisan Nasional-led federal government has put on a bid to re-take Kelantan from PAS through a reconstruction programme for the flood-devastated state?

Kelantan Umno chief and International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed denied that the BN government is making political capital out of the disaster rehabilitation work.

Instead, he said, the worst floods in the state’s history have created an opportunity for the avowed political foes to work together for the people’s benefit.

Certainly, the state and federal governments sat at the same table to plan the reconstruction of the state following the unprecedented flooding in December 2014, which Putrajaya estimates have caused RM1 billion in damage.

Despite initial sluggishness between the two sides to hold talks, the force of Mother Nature’s onslaught appears to have washed away the resistance of the long-time enemies.

With the Kelantan government cash-strapped, the federal government got to be portrayed as a white knight, stepping in with an allocation of RM800 million to rebuild houses and infrastructure and dispense to a populace laid low by the deluge.

Whether this was the only way to bring PAS around to unity talks with Umno is an open question.

At any rate, a special Post-Floods Joint Committee was set up in early January and is jointly chaired by Mustapa and Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob.

Mustapa, an Umno Supreme Council member and the Member of Parliament for Jeli, is also the Kelantan Flood Disaster Special Committee chairman.

He told The Edge Financial Daily that the joint committee has nothing to do with politics.

“It is for the rehabilitation of Kelantan which has suffered the worst floods in history.

“Unity talks and what not is the furthest thing from our minds,” he said during a walkabout in his constituency recently.

However, he acknowledged that working with the state government is good, as it shows the two sides can have a common platform.

“In this case, the common ground is the welfare of the Kelantanese people who are suffering.

“The money that the federal government is pumping in will not be used to take the Kelantan government hostage,” he said. The Kelantanese, said Mustapa, are not easily hoodwinked by immediate gestures but weigh the sincerity of the person who is offering help.

However, Mustapa admitted to harbouring hope that the aid will yield dividends for his party: “We want to be seen as a champion of the people and that despite the state not being under us, we are here to offer help to the people regardless of political affiliation.”

Responding to fears that the money will be channelled through contracts to friendly recipients to win political support, Mustapa said that as far as the funds are concerned, accountable processes are in place.

“An oversight committee is chaired by the MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) to ensure that the funds go where they are supposed to,” said Mustapa. The first priority, he said, is to complete the construction of 2,592 houses.

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