‘ Relief was in Budget’

> Proposal included disaster fund which Penang voted against, says Shahidan

REJECTING THE 2018 Budget also means rejecting the disaster relief fund allocated for flood victims, the Dewan Rakyat was told yesterday.

Slamming the Opposition for voting against the budget yesterday, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said they have failed to extend support for the flood victims when they rejected the budget.

“I regret very much that the Opposition had yesterday rejected the budget, which also contains allocation for disaster relief.

“So the flood victims did not receive the support of the Opposition as they have rejected the aid for flood victims in the budget as well,” he said.

Shahidan criticised the Opposition for asking contingency allocation of RM2 billion in aid of the flood victims in Penang, when they have rejected the government’s proposed budget for next year.

“You are asking for RM2 billion aid for Penang, but why didn’t you support the 2018 Budget yesterday?”

Shahidan, however, said the request will be discussed at a different level as it was not under his purview.

He was responding to a supplementary question by Sim Tze Tsin (PKR-Bayan Baru), who asked whether the government can provide a contingency fund of RM2 billion for Penang as provided for Kelantan and Terengganu during the floods in 2014.

“It is not true that Kelantan and Terengganu received contingency funds.

“The National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) was only involved in repairing houses affected in the floods.

“There were 652,000 victims, biggest in the country’s history. Nadma played a role during evacuation and took care of people’s welfare in the centres,” he said.