He said the relevant departments were investigating and would determine the cause of the tragedy.

“I believe that the relevant departments are conducting investigations. If it is related to vegetation replanting, it is under the forestry department. We leave this to them to investigate.

“Hence, there is no need for an RCI and so on; our departments also have their own capabilities and expertise,” he said in a press conference after visiting three temporary evacuation centres and flood-affected areas here.

He was asked to comment on a proposal by Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) for the Kedah state government to set up a public commission of inquiry to identify the cause of Monday’s floods in Baling and also the one in Gunung Jerai, Yan, which occurred last year.

The flash floods and water surge phenomenon in Baling claimed three lives while hundreds of victims were evacuated to temporary relief centres.

Takiyuddin said his ministry expected the investigation into the Baling floods to be completed soon as it did not involve a large area.

He said the minerals and geosciences department (JMG), together with the survey and mapping department (Jupem), would conduct an investigation and recommend appropriate action.

“Similar to what we did in Gunung Jerai, JMG does a lot of investigations related to the strengthening of risky slope areas. It will also give technical suggestions to other departments, including the public works department,” he said.

Meanwhile, Takiyuddin refuted claims that the relevant departments were slow to identify areas at risk before the tragedy occurred.

He said the government gave priority and took action in areas that had been identified as high-risk.

“In this area, for example, no such incident had occurred in the past 70 to 100 years, only small floods perhaps but never severe disasters,” he said.

He added that Gunung Inas was also not listed as a high-risk area prior to Monday’s floods.