A picture is worth a thousand words.
See the photos taken by Malaysiakini’s journalists and read their report about the scale of destruction of the Orang Asli (OA) heartlands, and the seriousness of the problem.
Instead of looking into the issues, both the Kelantan state government and Putrajaya appear to lack the political will to help the OA.
The best answer about Kelantan’s worst flood in living memory, came from MP Nik Abduh Nik Aziz. In a way, he was blaming the Kelantan people for rejecting hudud.
With MPs like him, you wonder if everytime you do something bad, tell a lie, or have naughty thoughts, that God will strike you dead with a lightning bolt from the sky.
Nik Abduh said, “The flood is a reminder to all Muslims to return to Allah’s ways and stay away from His wrath. It necessitates the perseverance of the Kelantan government to implement hudud laws.”
In January 2015, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Shahidan Kassim blamed uncontrolled logging for the flooding in Kelantan. He urged the state to replant trees in deforested areas, and warned, “In Kelantan, the way they’re cutting down the forest trees, it is as though the state has no law, while the department which should be looking after the forests, has not taken action.”
A defiant Kelantan Mentri Besar, Ahmad Yaakob and his Deputy, Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah denied claims that the floods had been caused by excessive logging. Mohd Amar defended his boss, and declared, “…the MB himself went on a helicopter ride, and a heavy amount of water came down from the National Park.”
Two reasons
When things go wrong, in Kelantan, it appears that there are only two possible reasons.
1) You are at fault for not praying hard enough.
2) God is punishing you, perhaps, for your infrequent praying and possibly for not adopting hudud law.
In Kelantan, it is NEVER the government’s fault, nor is it the fault of Putrajaya to deny the state its oil royalty.
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