Give MPs money to handle flood issues, says Muhyiddin

ALL MPs whose constituencies were affected by the floods should be allocated RM300,000, says Pagoh MP Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

He said the allocation could then be used by MPs to render immediate assistance to victims.

The former prime minister said Johor was badly affected by floods and the government should double its RM50mil flood assistance to RM100mil.

“The floods this time are very severe,” he added.

Muhyiddin also said the RM1bil allocated under Budget 2023 for additional retirement funds should be used for flood victims instead.

“Contributors did not ask for the RM1bil allocation. They only asked for targeted withdrawals.

“If that (targeted withdrawals) was passed, the government could save RM1bil and assist areas facing bad floods, as well as solve the issues of victims,” Muhyiddin said.

During the tabling of the revised Budget 2023 last month, Anwar said RM500 would be credited to the accounts of EPF members aged between 40 and 54 who have less than RM10,000 in their Account 1.

He said the programme would benefit two million EPF members via an allocation of almost RM1bil.

Muhyiddin said the announcement to assist those with low EPF savings would only assist contributors in the 40-54 age group.

Meanwhile, he said the government should stop the “selective prosecution” of Opposition leaders.

“Don’t practise favouritism or give in to revenge sentiments by looking into the faults of only certain individuals – (this is) selective prosecution,” said Muhyiddin.

He also accused Putrajaya of intentionally sidelining Felda settlers in Budget 2023 for supporting Perikatan Nasional in the 15th General Election (GE15).

“Issues on housing for second and third generation Felda settlers aren’t mentioned at all.

“Maybe that was because in GE15, most of them supported Perikatan.

“But don’t punish them. They are facing hard times,” he added.

Muhyiddin also said a previous initiative to abolish a portion of Felda settlers’ loans, during the Perikatan administration he himself had led, has been removed.

“It wasn’t continued by the (current) government because it affected Felda’s cashflow.

“I don’t think the debt abolition initiative by the former Perikatan government had a big impact on Felda’s cashflow, because these were old debts.

“Besides that, Felda also issued RM9.9bil worth of Islamic bonds (sukuk) guaranteed by the government.

“With the sukuk issued, Felda has the ability to continue with the debt abolition initiative,” said Muhyiddin.

In July 2021, Muhyiddin announced the abolition of Felda settler loans amounting to RM8.3bil, subject to certain conditions.