Today’s Chinapress daily has carried an interview the paper had with former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin a few days ago.
Among the issues touched by Daim was the recent devastating flood.
He revealed that he had recently told the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib that he ( Najib) needed to be more effective in managing crisis. He said that Najib should learn from the former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir who had performed well in crisis management.
I do not think Malaysians are keen on Daim’s comparison of crisis management abilities between Najib and Mahathir.
But the public will be keen to know the answer to one question which Najib has not answered—why did he not declare a disaster related state of emergency to deal with the flood upon his return from overseas on December 27 last year?
Daim told the Chinapress Daily that if the recent flood had happened in other countries, a state of emergency would have been declared.
When the devastating flood happened, DAP had made repeated calls on the Prime Minister to declare a state of emergency so as to facilitate better management of the flood.
On Dec 27, Najib had said for the time being there was no necessity for the federal government to declare a disaster emergency for Kelantan, after taking into consideration the implications involved.
“If the government announces an emergency, the implications that will arise include insurance companies being absolved from paying compensation… and compensation arising from damage to properties and vehicles is enormous” he was quoted as saying.
Najib’s reluctance was indeed puzzling especially after his insurance argument was demolished by the General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) on Dec 31, last year.
PIAM has openly confirmed that insurance firms will not be absolved of liability in paying out compensation for flood claims filed if a state of emergency is declared. PIAM said its member companies must process the claims so long as flood is an “insured peril”.
So what was the reason that Najib was reluctant to declare a natural disaster related state of emergency in the flood stricken states so to enable federal, state and local government resources to be better and more effectively mobilised and coordinated to deal with the flood?
Till today, Najib has not given any other explanation on his refusal to declare a state of emergency when, as Daim said, other countries that faced such floods would have done so.
Is Najib’s lack of crisis management ability the true reason why he has failed to declare the much needed natural disaster related state of emergency?