Prime Minister Najib Razak is cutting short his vacation in Hawaii to return to Malaysia, and will oversee the emergency response to the ongoing floods currently ravaging the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, Perak, Perlis, and Johor.
A Federal Government spokesperson told the New Straits Times‘ Koi Kye Lee that the PM decided to head home from the United States to personally oversee rescue and relief efforts, and will arrive in Kelantan, the state hardest hit by the floods, on Saturday.
“During his time abroad, the Prime Minister received daily updates on the situation, and spoke to Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to instruct the National Disaster Management and Relief Committee to step up their efforts to assist those affected by the floods.
“Following recent reports that the situation had continued to worsen, the Prime Minister felt it was necessary to return to personally oversee the response,” the spokesperson said.
As soon as he’s back in Malaysia, Najib will chair a meeting involving briefings from the National Security Council, the National Disaster Management and Relief Committee, state government officials, and emergency responders.
Najib raised a few eyebrows when photos and reports went viral of his golf game with US president Barack Obama, while both were on holiday in Hawaii. The photos broke just as the floods on the east coast escalated to unprecedented levels.
Prior to the announcement that Najib would return home, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin assured the nation that he had the situation under control, and that he would be acting on Najib’s behalf as Acting Prime Minister.
The floods hitting the country, by several estimates the worst to hit Malaysia in its57-year history, have so far affected some 118,896 people, with more than 90,000 people having to be evcuated from their homes. Electricity, fuel, and food supplies are dwindling, while relief efforts are hampered by impassable roads, submerged under as much as two metres of floodwater, and continued bad weather preventing helicopters from reaching victims.
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