DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng has slammed Barisan Nasional’s (BN) M. Saravanan for not taking into consideration the people’s anger towards the government for wanting to hold a general election during the monsoon season.

In a statement today, the Bagan MP lambasted the human resources minister’s cold and heartless response when saying “let the people be angry” at a parliament press conference yesterday.

“His ‘let them be angry’ remark shows how out of touch the current BN government is. This callous response of ‘let the rakyat be angry’ reminds me of the classic remark by French queen Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution, who when told that the people did not have enough bread to eat, said ‘let them eat cake’.

“Such a callous and dismissive attitude towards the possible loss of lives and property during the flood season has conclusively proven that the current federal government is not fit to rule when it does not care about the people but only about retaining power at all costs,” said Lim.

According to Lim, the MIC man had even denied that elections will be held during the flood season because the Meteorological Department said it might flood after November 15 until January next year.

“Saravanan appears to have forgotten the reminder issued by the Meteorological Department on 29 September that the country will go through a monsoon transition phase from October 3 until the end of November. MetMalaysia stated that during this monsoon transition phase, the country will encounter thunderstorms that could potentially trigger flash floods,” Lim added.

Citing an expert on climate change, Lim urged the government to heed the advice of Universiti Putra Malaysia scientist Haliza Abdul Rahman, who suggested that the general election be held after February.

She warned that the flood situation during the monsoon season at year-end might be worse than last year’s.

“This is in line with the Meteorological Department’s forecast that heavy rain will be expected in Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang from November to December, with the same in Johor, Sabah, and Sarawak from December to January next year,” Lim stressed.

Lim said instead of holding national polls, the government should come up with flood contingency plans to be implemented during elections and whether any election held will have to be postponed in the event of floods.

He said even the United States has issued warnings to its citizens residing in Malaysia on the danger of floods here.

“If selfish BN politicians from Umno and Saravanan feel they know more than experts, and are willing to risk the lives and property of Malaysians to achieve their selfish political interests, then voters should teach them a lesson for stubbornly insisting on holding elections during the flood season.

“Clearly the US embassy is more responsible than our Malaysian government in looking after our citizens respectively. Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob should learn from the deep concern about the flood situation by the king, who visited the National Flood Forecasting And Warning Centre in Ampang today,” he said.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his Supreme Council members have demanded that elections be held this year.

He said Ismail, who is Umno vice-president, would be meeting the king soon to propose a date to dissolve parliament.

Opposition parties including PAS and Bersatu have all rejected BN’s call to hold polls this year. – October 6, 2022.