KUALA LUMPUR: It is a big mistake for a politician, especially a minister, to pin the blame on the public for any disaster affecting them, former cabinet minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said.
He was referring to Environment and Water Minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man's comment to Berita Harian on Friday.
Tuan Ibrahim was reported as saying that the people had failed to heed the Meteorological Department's (MetMalaysia) weather warnings and as a result, they were unprepared to face the massive floods hitting areas beyond the east coast last week.
Nazri said Tuan Ibrahim's remark was "entirely wrong" as the "bulk is always with the government".
"It is for the government to inform the public what's about to happen and especially for the environment minister, MetMalaysia is under his (Tuan Ibrahim) ministry. In politics, blaming the public is a big no-no.
"Besides, the same could be said to the government on why they did not heed MetMalaysia's warning and do early preparations?" he told the New Straits Times.
Checks on MetMalaysia's Facebook page found that not many warnings were published about the impending heavy rain before the flooding began.
Although the floods were associated with Tropical Depression 29W, which created landfall near Kuantan on Dec 17 and caused severe flooding across central peninsular Malaysia, MetMalaysia made no mention of the incoming weather phenomenon as it developed over several days on the South China Sea.
MetMalaysia did, however, issue several continuous heavy rain and thunderstorm warnings in the run-up to the floods.
MetMalaysia issued its first continuous rain warning for Selangor on Dec 17, but only flagged it as an "alert" level. Before that, a "danger" warning was issued for Kemaman, Terengganu and Kuantan, Pahang.
From 2004 until 2013, Nazri was the Minister in Prime Minister's Department and was also the National Disaster Committee (NDC) chairman in charge of the National Security Council (NSC).
This was years before the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) was formed and parked under the Special Functions portfolio.
"I was the Nadma minister for nine years but it wasn't called Nadma yet at the time. Handling disasters was our job and although some unfortunate deaths happened, we didn't hear stories about bodies floating here and there every day.
"Our committee (NDC) was always prepared despite it not having a better structure like Nadma or much more well-equipped, which means Nadma should've been able to function more effectively."
Echoing Nazri's view was Universiti Sains Malaysia's political analysts Dr Sivamurugan Pandian who said that it was unfair for leaders to blame the public given that the latter is the biggest stakeholder in the country.
This, he said, was especially improper during a time when a big chunk of the people need strong support from their leaders to ease their burden and prepare them mentally to face post-flood problems that would require them forking out a lot of money.
"There was a sudden pouring of heavy rain. How can the public know the flood could happen in such a short time? The public don't have the data and expertise that the government has to predict these things.
"The Yang di-Pertuan Agong's call for a post-mortem must be heeded because this has been happening for years and clearly, we need to look at our town planning and drainage system.
"Every time this happens, we say our drains are to blame and also the public's attitude of throwing rubbish everywhere. So, let's fix these.
"Let's find solutions to our drains, let's increase the number of times garbage trucks pick up the rubbish and empower local authorities' role so that all of these multi-dimensional issues can be resolved," he said.
On Saturday, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah urged the government to conduct a post-mortem on the drainage system in the country to address problems of flash floods in urban areas.