CLOSE to 14,000 people have signed Rafizi Ramli’s “Bantah PRU15 Semasa Banjir - Selamatkan Nyawa Bukan Jawatan” (Oppose having GE15 during floods - save lives not positions) online petition which began on September 28.

As of 10.30am today, 13,894 people, short of the 1,106 signatures needed to reach the 15,000 target the PKR deputy president had set, signed the petition.

The petition, on Change.org, stated that if the 15,000 signatures target is reached, the petition would become “one of the top signed on Change.org”.

In a video posted on his Facebook page yesterday, just ahead of Umno’s supreme council meeting at the Kuala Lumpur World Trade Centre to decide on the date of the election, Rafizi gave three reasons why he was against having the general election during the time when the country is often hit by floods from the year end monsoon.

He said the focus of the government, including state governments, and government agencies should be on flood preparations. This has now been diverted to politics.

He also said, the money allocated to hold the election, estimated to be RM1 billion, would be better served if it is channeled to assisting the people facing floods and lastly, the hundreds of thousands of civil servants who should have been assigned to flood relief would have to be diverted to the election.

Rafizi said Umno’s insistence on having the general election during the flood season is because they “see the flood as a stepping stone to wrest power in Putrajaya”.

“I fear for the welfare of the hundreds of thousands of families who will be affected by the floods,” he said, in appealing to Malaysians to sign the petition to show their opposition”.

Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan told reporters after the meeting last night that Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob would seek an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong soon to present a few possible dates to dissolve parliament.

“The dissolution of parliament will be made soon and the general election will be held this year,” Ahmad added.

The Malaysian Insight had in an earlier report stated the meeting would decide the probable dates for the dissolution of parliament and the general election, likely in November.

The next parliamentary meeting starts on Monday until November 29, with Budget 2023 to be tabled on Friday, but it is widely expected that parliament will be dissolved as early as October 12. – October 1, 2022.