From a garden city, Kuching turns into a 'water city' because of the city council's alleged ineffectiveness in addressing frequent floods.

Sarawak United People's Party (Supp) elected representative Lily Yong has taken the Kuching City South Council, headed by party colleague Chan Seng Khai, to task over the matter.

Yong, was quoted as saying in the Borneo Post yesterday, that it was "sad and depressing" to see the Sarawak capital turning into a water city.

She said the council should look into the matter immediately to rectify the poor drainage system.

Heavy downpours last week caused flash floods in several low-lying areas, including the main shopping streets.

The water seeped into shops and damaged goods on the sidewalk where stalls were set up for the Ramadan month.

However, Chan said today that it was unfair of his colleague to pin the blame on the council.

"I deeply regret her statement and I want to clarify that the council has always looked into the needs of residents," he said, adding that it has "never looked for excuses"'.

He said the council had asked for RM26.5 million from the federal government under the Ninth Malaysia Plan to improve the drainage system and roads in the city.

Heated debate

Yong told malaysiakini later that the Kuching City North Commission had been allocated RM5 million to improve drainage in the city centre.

According to her, its counterpart Kuching City South Council, was not allocated a single sen.

"I should know. That was why I called for a briefing by the Kuching City South Council on Oct 6 to obtain details on its submission for allocations for such projects under the Ninth Malaysia Plan," she said.

Present at the briefing were Chan, Pending state assemblyperson Sim Kheng Hui, Padawan Municipal Council chairperson Tan Joo Phoi (on behalf of Batu Kawa state assemblyperson Alfred Yap) and several Kuching City South councillors and engineering staff.

Yong said all she wanted to know during the briefing was what the council was doing about the perennial flood problems.

"At one stage the argument became quite heated and only when I decided not to say any more did it all simmer down," she added.

It is an open secret that Chan and Yong do not enjoy a close working relationship and her outburst during the weekend was clearly directed at Chan.

Yong, who once served as a political secretary to the chief minister, has recently been at odds with Chan because some of the council's actions have not gone down well with many businesses which are in her constituency.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini 's stringer in Sarawak.