The recent flash floods that hit Penang were a natural catastrophe that took most of us by surprise. As usual, Barisan Nasional component parties such as Umno, MCA and Gerakan wasted no time in politicising the ordeal – which is not unusual.
Several traditional media outlets (i.e. BN-owned newspapers) have begun spreading fallacious and hyper- exaggerated accounts, with the main objective being to discredit the Pakatan Harapan-led Penang State Government.
Since the “political tsunami” of 2008, Penang has undergone transformative reforms both political and economically. These positive changes have been felt by all who reside within the state as well as those from outside.
However, due to the rigid centralised system of our federation, the separation of powers – federal versus state or in other words, Barisan Nasional versus Pakatan Harapan – provides one of the main challenges to governance.
The system we have places every state government and local council at the mercy of the powerful Federal Government. The latter must grant approval even for the most basic infrastructure projects, which is not by itself wrong, but unfortunately for us, our Federal Government has a reputation for withholding funding and rejecting projects based on political considerations.
According to reports, under the 11th Malaysia Plan, allocations were to have been set aside for Penang for a much needed RM350 million flood mitigation project. Not surprisingly, the Najib Razak administration rejected it, and appeals are still being made by the state.
Flooding in Penang is not a new phenomenon. It happens quite regularly due to monthly precipitation, and is made worse by infrastructural neglect and uncontrolled development in previous years by the Gerakan state government which had overseen the planning of Penang.
In other nations, in particular Germany, city planners and civil engineers would make hydraulic calculations for drainage construction (i.e. volume, maximum capacity, water level, etc) that are based on a 100-year flooding event.
The 100-year flood simply means that construction of drainage systems will “allow” floods to occur once in every 100 years. Such calculations are based on the amount of average rainfall per year, which is then dynamically updated depending on current and relative weather observations.
Current projects within cities and especially densely populated areas must follow stringent regulations to prevent damages or at least, minimise the collateral damage brought about by major natural disasters – in this case, major flooding events.
Why a 100-year projection and not 200-years? The answer is purely based on cost efficiency. A drainage system for a 200-year duration would obviously increase construction costs significantly which would then be impossible to fund. The national budget would not be sufficient, therefore, the compromise is to shave off a century, assuming that the quality of the concrete could last between 50 to 100 years.
But let’s be clear, even with magnanimous funding, floods cannot be absolutely prevented but they can be controlled and, as a result, damages to property and lives can be minimised significantly.
I must reiterate that the present state government cannot be blamed for Gerakan’s inefficiencies because they failed to plan ahead and lacked the foresight to prevent this regular flooding event – which could have been easily prevented if they had not cut corners and had seriously upheld the state stakeholders’ best interest at heart.
The current Penang state government is simply repairing the damage and doing its best to upgrade and improve the lives of Penangites – both on the island and the mainland, with the limitations and restrictions imposed by a federal government which is bent on ‘teaching us a lesson for voting the wrong party into power’.
Syerleena Abdul Rashid is MBPP Councillor and DAP Penang State Assistant Publicity Secretary.
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