Following the floods and the devastation that happened last weekend, Malaysians were unhappy with the government’s response to the crisis.
Many called for the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Functions) Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad who manages the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) to resign.
In an interview with Sinar Harian, he mentioned that he is willing to dissolve NADMA and resign.
“I have been the elected representative for 6 terms already. But, what is the solution?”
He also asked those who called for his resignation to submit proposals to more effectively manage floods in the country.
Abdul Latiff added that if Malaysians only requests for resignations, the country will change the prime minister every 3 months.
Meanwhile, he also said that district officers should serve as the chairman of the disaster management committee at the district level when the disaster is declared.
“All disaster-related management in the area will be managed by the chairman of the district-level disaster management committee.”
“NADMA will help as the secretariat because this agency is only at the Federal level and we have no staff at the state or district level. NADMA has only 50 staff working at the central level.”
“So, all disaster management matters will be managed at the state level, the chairman is the state secretary (SUK). It is also the responsibility of the district office when at the district level,” he said.
He added that the disaster management should be separated into 3 different levels, namely central, state and district or local authorities.
“We cannot ask the federal government to take care of the cause of this disaster blindly. It is not possible for the agency to handle everything as the responsibility needs to be shared with the respective levels.”
“Let’s take an example if this management is taken over by the agency at the federal level, who should take charge of providing assistance to the victims,” he asked.
“So that’s why we have to go back to three levels, namely district, state and federal,” he added.
Also read: M’sian Lawyers Believe Deforestation Caused Flood and Will Be Going To Court To Fight Against It
