COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
5 January 2015

Apart from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, there are a lot of flood victims who are also down with E. Coli infection. Nothing surprising because this is flood waters we are talking about.

So let’s not be bothered if there are leaders down with an infection or suffer some hardship in relief operations for the worst floods to hit Malaysia in decades. At the very least, it is some discomfort before they get well.

The priority, really, should be on the flood victims.

There are many tales of villagers who fled to higher ground and hills to escape the fast-rising waters that burst river banks, destroyed houses, washed away property, swamped tall buildings and at its height – left at least 250,000 people seeking shelter in evacuation centres.
These Malaysians are without food, blankets, toilets and homes. And in the land of almost high income and expenses, the rest of us Malaysians are either raising funds and supplies for them or raising temperatures by picking on what ails our leaders.

We need to go beyond that. Food supplies and emergency aid have been sent to the flood victims. They now need to rebuild their lives and homes.

They need more than our sympathy. They need our help and money to get back their lives. Anything and everything from generator sets, high-pressure cleaning equipment, stoves, clothes, books and more because they have lost everything.

Those in Kelantan need not worry about hudud laws because there is nothing to steal or a secluded place for khalwat. Politics is not their concern, surviving is.

Politicians can slap their mugshots on rice bags but it is pretty much useless if there is no potable water or fire to cook rice. Malaysians have, and need, to continue to go beyond partisan politics to help those in need.

Politicians who fell sick from the effects of the floods can stay at home. To paraphrase Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, we are all humans and some need a break.

Yes, we need a break from politics that divide. We need a break from the venom and vitriol of politics until our fellow Malaysians who survived the floods are back on their own two feet.

The flight movements of the government official jet travelling around the world is not our priority now. Reconstructing lives and livelihoods is the main focus.

We can only hope those ill from the floods, and those down with E. Coli, get better.

But let’s make sure the Malaysians out there shivering in the cold or suffering due to the floods get our undivided attention now. – January 5, 2015.