There is the flood

There are numerous topics to write that I got waylaid. There was the unity government's MOU that I could write. There are issues on our economy, cost of living that I could have written. And there was this tragedy that happened in Batang Kali. Soil movements led to a landslide that buried the Father's Organic Farm that had a few campsites. There were almost 100 victims, with 24 dead and 12 remain missing. 54 were safe while the rest were injured, some of them critically.

Grieving relatives from the Batang Kali Tragedy. Photo from The Star. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/12/18/helping-survivors-deal-with-the-traumatic-aftermath

As I write, my team is having difficulty getting to Pasir Mas, where the Kelantan office is. Some roads are flooded while some of their homes are experiencing water rising. There are some of them that could be trapped. There's only a few of us in the office right now. I just drove in from Kuala Lumpur last night, drove in the pouring rain as we made our way. We noticed very strong wind with the sea turning into a very murky gray colour. Waves were rolling and it looks scary as we had our dinner in Penarik. Arriving at my apartment I experienced even stronger wind that is trying to blow me off my feet. I am not a small person, yet the wind felt that strong.

Warning - Extreme Weather - Continuous Heavy Rain https://www.met.gov.my/en/

(That's where I am. The area marked in red.)

If readers were to read the section under Letters, you will notice the many occasions when I have written about the environment and the need to respect nature. I don't profess to be an ecological warrior, nor do I have a love affair with the great outdoors, but I love to see greeneries, where I get a sense of calm. Much as I am an advocate for development, I want to see sustainable development that appreciates nature and the environment. I want to see our great architects and engineers to build having the deepest respect of what nature has to offer.

Unfortunately, very often they instead go against nature employing method to bury natural waterways or tampering with the course of these waterways. They construct buildings and settlements without taking into account a proper drainage system and waterflow. As I was driving to office, braving against the heavy downpour, I noticed how little drainage are provided for these settlements. Because the water has nowhere to go, it rises, and flood occurs.

If we employ proper drainage for this water, we can perhaps channel the water to a proper reservoir or collection points for our water needs. Instead, far too frequently we allow rainfall to fall unabated and wasted as we continue to grouse and complain about our water quality or the lack of it. Year in and year out we don't seem to learn. We continue to challenge nature and each time we lose.

Last year we had one of the worse flash floods in history and this year is a landslide. Both these incidences had fatalities. To us these are mere statistics. To many others they are someone's father, mother, brother, sister, cousin, nephew, niece, son, daughter, friend, colleague, acquaintance. They were a rock in someone else's life. They played a significant role in their lives and every year we waste them away seemingly having little regard for the value of human lives.

Let's not even speak of loss in productivity because we allow these to happen. Floods inundates our infrastructure paralysing our logistics. Movements of goods and services are hampered. Supplies cannot meet demands and prices rises yet again. Producers and distributors need to cover their costs and losses while consumers scramble for scarce goods.

Prices are sky high with many entrepreneurs barely able to break even. Consumers need to spend more to buy lesser goods pressuring purchasing power. Lower purchasing power leads to a dampened economy and thus recession looms. With recession, economy produces lesser goods, productivity reduces, and jobs will start to be affected. This is the feared downward spiral. This is where governments will need to launch their economic packages to spur a recovery. What's a recovery? Where people spend more, resulting in higher demand for goods, leading to higher production that spurs higher productivity thus creating that economic impetus. It's not just about spending. It's also about people's confidence in the economy. And people mean exactly just that. Everyone. From the smallest spender to the largest investor and industrialist.

But how can we do that when our logistics and infrastructure are impeded, with lower productivity and reduced confidence? For us here we have been too engrossed in politics that we failed to realise and understand the looming economic disaster that can happen if we don't create the right economic package.

To spur the economy funds are needed. The government can either impose new tax or increase tax rates or to borrow. But if they were to impose any form of tax, it reduces disposable income and people will now have less to spend. If they were to borrow, it increases government borrowings impacting their fiscal policy for a balanced budget as they need to provide funds to pay off their debts. The re-tabled budget will be very interesting as they need to find a balance between the two. The need to avoid triggering a recession and the need for prudent spending.

They need to generate new income. They need to spur the economy. They need to encourage growth and investments. They need to generate more disposable income to encourage consumer spending. They need to ensure adequate infrastructure for the nation. Balanced development, sustainable maintenance allocation and the list just goes on.

There's much to do but with so little time. I do hope that every single one of the Members of Parliament take heed of the predicament facing the nation and in the spirit of nationhood work together for the sake of the nation. Put political rivalry on the backburner for a while, with or without the unity government.