Noh blames haphazard S'gor flood response on 'confused' MB

Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative Minister Noh Omar today panned Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari for confusing between two committees under the National Security Council (NSC) Orders 1 and 20, which respectively handle security matters and disaster management.

This comes after Amirudin said in a statement yesterday that he has again resumed the task of state NSC chief and blamed the slow flood response in Selangor to him (Amirudin) not being appointed to the post much earlier.

According to Noh (above), who is Tanjung Karang MP, he is still the state NSC chief that oversees security affairs, while the post that Amirudin takes over starting today is the chair of another committee that specifically handles disaster management operations.

"I would like to teach this menteri besar a bit so that he understands the difference in government orders.

"Under the NSC, there are two orders, namely Order Number 1 which is on state security and public order matters, and Order Number 20 that stipulates a review on the policy and mechanisms for national disaster management.

"This means there are two separate committees. The one I am chairing is under Order Number 1," he said at a press conference in Putrajaya today.

Noh called for the media conference after Amirudin yesterday said that he (Amirudin) could not mobilise security agencies when the flood situation at several locations in Selangor worsened on Dec 18 as he did not chair the state NSC.

Instead, the menteri besar had said, he was informed that the state NSC was chaired by a federal minister.

Noh, however, refuted this.

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He said the post he is holding was not in charge of disaster management, and the one that is responsible for it is another state committee parked under the National Disaster Management Agency and chaired by the Selangor state secretary.

This committee, he added, consists of the state police chief, the commanders of the Armed Forces brigades in the state, and district officers, among others.

"I was shocked to read the menteri besar's statement claiming that he could not call the police and military for a meeting when the committee (under state secretary) already has security forces as its members," Noh said.

"No wonder the state disaster management went haywire, seeing that the menteri besar could not even understand the power that was given to the state," he added.

Noh believed that the matter was also politically motivated to bash him as he is from Umno.

Meanwhile, on a related matter, the Selangor Umno liaison committee chairperson clarified a news report that made him somewhat sound like threatening flood victims that they cannot claim RM1,000 disaster aid from the government if they choose not to be evacuated to a registered temporary shelter.

Instead, Noh said, he told reporters yesterday that he disagreed with such practice.

"What I said was I disagreed, as in the time of emergency we should set aside such rules. We need to place importance on the welfare of the rakyat."

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