Muda to protest GE15 being held this year, demands flood response plan

Muda has joined the flood of resistance against the 15th general election being called by the year end amid an annual monsoon, with a planned public protest in Kuala Lumpur this weekend.

Muda central executive committee member Nurainie Haziqah Shafii said the 'Lives First Before Elections' protest is set to take place outside the Sogo shopping complex.

This is in response to Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's "irresponsible" remarks that BN is prepared to face the floods for their election campaign.

"The remark was made even though Zahid and other BN leaders have full knowledge that floods will usually occur at the end of the year.

"We are reminded of the massive floods that happened last November, December until January this year, where to date there have been no proper mitigation plans announced," Norainie said during a press conference at the party's headquarters in Petaling Jaya.

"We, Muda, wish to clearly demand that no general election will be called this year.

"Such statements (by Zahid) do not in any way reflect the empathy of 'Keluarga Malaysia' as espoused by the prime minister," she stressed.

Nurainie also urged Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to announce a national flood response plan that includes government assets and personnel deployment.

Right to information

Reflecting on the major floods last year, another Muda central executive committee member, Afiqah Zulkifli, said the government should make public any findings of post-mortems conducted to identify weaknesses in existing flood response procedures.

"The findings should not be kept exclusively within government meeting rooms, and instead should be shared with opposition MPs, NGOs and the public," she added.

Similarly, Muda vice-president Lim Wei Jiet said the public has a right to know the government's short-term, mid-term and long-term response, on a matter of national interest.

"The right to information is crucial because only with information can the public and parliamentarians scrutinise the (flood response) plan for areas of improvement, and only then will there be accountability," he added.

Previously, Ismail Sabri said he would discuss a suitable election date with the Umno top five leaders soon, where they would "deliberate on all issues" related to holding GE15, including the weather.

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