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KOTA KINABALU – Pursuant to the confirmation by the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government that flood victims in Sabah are entitled to the financial assistance package from the federal government, Warisan wants to know the maximum limit in aid for each family.
Warisan deputy president Datuk Darell Leiking questioned whether the said assistance will be distributed based on tiers to commensurate damages or losses incurred by the family, as how it is being done in the peninsula.
He said an explanation on the matter is necessary to enable Sabah MPs to debate the matter appropriately during the upcoming Dewan Rakyat special sitting on January 20.
“The GRS-led state government must fight for the flood victims in Sabah, particularly the Kadazan Dusun Murut (KDM) community in flood-stricken areas such as Kota Marudu, Pitas, and Beluran, which happen to be the poorest areas in Malaysia.
“KDM leaders in GRS must demand that the same tiers of packages prepared for the peninsula folk be also made available to them,” he said in a statement today.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced on December 31, 2021 and January 1 the two tiers of the federal government’s financial assistance package for flood victims in Malaysia.
Its first tier provides RM10,000 in cash assistance, and the second tier, which includes rebuilding totally destroyed houses, up to RM61,000.
Leiking, who is also the Penampang MP, said he viewed that the federal government’s first-tier package of RM10,000 must be made available unconditionally to all flood victims in Sabah regardless of whether the total value of destroyed or damaged assets within an affected house is valued below the amount, and whether the affected family had been evacuated.
“This is so since such a sum is considered pittance compared to all the losses incurred by the villagers who suffered in silence due to repeated flooding over the years.”
The former international trade and industry minister also said that it is high time the state government make global warming and climate change a main priority, at the same time implementing a general overhaul of the state departments and agencies to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in facing weather-caused threats.
“Global warming and climate change are serious matters for the state because, on one hand, they can cause constant flooding that will destroy crops or shake potential foreign and domestic investors’ confidence.
“On the other hand, prolonged droughts will lead to water shortages. These weather-caused threats will continue in Sabah until the international community has reached an affirmative consensus about it.
“So while we wait for such international affirmative consensus to be adopted, Warisan holds to the view that a fully-fledged state Geology Department be created.
“It should then be assigned together with the existing state Drainage and Irrigation Department, Environment Protection Department, and Town and Housing Planning Department under a specific research-based ministry that will be tasked primarily to draft the state’s policies, regulation, and planning on development,” he said.
He added that the research-based ministry should also become an active member of reputable international authorities on climate change and be tasked to understand how other developed countries are making their own adaptations to climate change.
“This will allow us to learn the latest designs/ technologies being used and as an added initiative, organise our own annual climate change conference with the aim of not only attracting foreign visitors to the state but also educating younger Sabahans on climate change,” he said.
Leiking stressed the urgent need to effect changes to the state government’s administration for effective and efficient management of climate change in Sabah.
“Over time, unregulated development, primitive technologies, or increased rainfall will eventually cause any recently widened and deepened rivers, full of sediment or cleared drainage, to be clogged with debris and rubbish again,” he added. – The Vibes, January 7, 2021