'Rakyat can see the difference' - MP compares disaster responses
Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim has drawn an unflattering comparison between how the Pakatan Harapan administration handled the chemical pollution in his constituency in 2019 and how the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government is handling the flood disaster that has hit the country now.
Hassan said the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) was very efficient when it was under the purview of former deputy prime minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail while Harapan was in power, but it has since changed...
Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim has drawn an unflattering comparison between how the Pakatan Harapan administration handled the chemical pollution in his constituency in 2019 and how the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government is handling the flood disaster that has hit the country now.
Hassan said the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) was very efficient when it was under the purview of former deputy prime minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail while Harapan was in power, but it has since changed.
“Suddenly Nadma has become an agency that is sluggish, rigid, and lackadaisical under the leadership of the minister from the BN and PN administration,” he said in a statement today.
For example, Hassan said, many Harapan ministers had rushed to the scene at Pasir Gudang, Johor on March 14, 2019 – a day after he filed an emergency motion to debate in Parliament about the severe air pollution causing gas poisoning among the people there.
He noted that his emergency motion was also approved by then Dewan Rakyat speaker Ariff Mohd Yusof and it was debated in the special chambers on March 14, 2019.
Though he did not specifically mention the incident, it is believed he was referring to the chemical dumping incident at Sungai Kim Kim in March 2019 which led to over 500 people being hospitalised for gas poisoning.
Nadma at the time was also very efficient at mobilising teams to handle the air pollution including sending out hazmat units that acted quickly to protect the people of Pasir Gudang, the PKR lawmaker added.
On top of that, then environment minister Yeo Bee Yin even held a town hall to speak to Pasir Gudang residents about the severe air pollution, he said.
“The ministers under the Harapan administration were brave enough to face the rakyat,” Hassan said.
On the other hand, when major flash floods struck various parts of the country on Dec 18, he said the BN and PN ministers were nowhere to be seen on the first day of the flood, even though some of the worst-hit areas were within the Klang Valley “which is only a few kilometres from Putrajaya”.
He pointed out that Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun also refused calls from opposition MPs, such as opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng, to debate the flood disaster in Parliament on Dec 20.
“This is among the differences between how the Harapan administration leaders and the BN and PN administration leaders handle a national disaster.
“The rakyat can see with their own eyes,” Hassan added.
