BARISAN Nasional (BN) chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s claim that the coalition is ready for the 15th general election (GE15) even during flood-prone year-end season shows they are detached from reality, PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli said.

Taking a dig at the Umno president, Rafizi said BN seems to have forgotten what happened in the past, where floods caused massive suffering to the people.

“Umno seems to have forgotten the misery experienced by the people over the past decade due to the flood disaster,” the former Pandan MP said in a statement today.

“The two major flood incidents in Sri Muda (in 2021) and Baling (this year) did not impact the Umno leadership, let alone convince them that the welfare of the people needs to be prioritised.”

Yesterday, Zahid said that despite the possibility of floods, BN is willing to face floods to campaign in GE15.

He said should the election be held at the end of the year, the BN Youth machinery will be ready to provide assistance in flood-hit areas.

Rafizi, who recently returned to PKR after a sabbatical, said Zahid’s stance on having an election during a flood is not the same with Pakatan Harapan’s (PH), who is more focused on preparing and dealing with floods, if any.

“Zahid’s statement was quite different from the tone of the PH leadership.

“One of the main contents of the resolution reached in the meeting is for the states governed by PH to work on integrated measures to deal with the flood disaster that is expected to arrive, including declaring a ‘climate emergency’ to reduce the suffering of the people.

“While the focus of the state governments is to help the people, Umno and its leadership are pushing aside the risk of floods in their frenzy for insisting that GE15 be held immediately in order to seek power,” Rafizi said.

He even branded Zahid’s call for an election during the flood season as “arrogance” and said that the people should give an apt response to it.

Rafizi said he will work on a public referendum to show Zahid and Umno that the people should shun political parties that vie for power to the point of neglecting to prepare for floods.

“Within a week from now, I will launch a digital poll and a flood preparedness campaign so that the people can express their insistence that the federal and state governments give their full attention to dealing with floods.

“The recent tragedy involving the destruction of property and loss of life should serve as a reminder to all political parties not to take the issue of climate change and environmental disasters lightly.

“If politicians like Zahid still do not take notice, then it is appropriate for Umno and its leadership to be schooled to start learning to prioritise the welfare of the people,” Rafizi said.

Besides Rafizi, other lawmakers also slammed Zahid for insisting the federal polls be held during the flood season.

Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman labelled Zahid “crazy” for insisting on elections during floods.

The Muda president said Zahid and Umno are willing to put people’s lives at risk for the sake of power.

Klang MP Charles Santiago also lambasted the Bagan Datuk lawmaker, calling him selfish and shameless, for wanting an election even if there is floods.

Zahid had, on numerous occasions, called for elections to be held this year. – September 18, 2022.