PETALING JAYA: Families of Malaysians still missing following the glacial flash floods in Nepal last month will meet five government agencies this Sunday, hoping to get answers on the outcome of the search operation and what happens next.
Subramaniam Murugaya, spokesman for the Malaysia Solidarity: Families in Hope, said that after the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) left on Sept 14, they did not get any updates.
“The meeting, organised by Wisma Putra, will be held at 10am, with two representatives from each affected family allowed to attend,” he said when contacted.
He said the five agencies involved are the Attorney General’s Chambers, National Registration Department, Social Welfare Department, National Disaster Management Agency and National Security Council.
“During this meeting, we want to ask what the SMART team did, what they found, because we did not get daily updates from the authorities on this,” he said.
Since the incident on Aug 26, Subramaniam said the families had been keeping track of the latest developments through Nepalese news portals while waiting for updates from the Malaysian authorities.
“The last we saw was a report two days ago where the Nepal government was deciding how to legally handle the status of thousands of people missing after the floods.
“This is so that they can move forward with rights like inheritance, insurance claims and compensation.
“If the Nepal side gives that closure, then can Malaysia declare such measures too?” he said.
Previously, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said that in Nepal, a death certificate could be issued three years after a person was reported missing or unaccounted for, compared with seven years in Malaysia.
Subramaniam said another issue families planned to raise on Sunday was whether the government could consider a moratorium to ease their financial burden, similar to the six-month repayment moratorium introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
“There are families with car and housing loans which are unsettled. Students are still studying and there are all other cases as well,” he said.
Previously, the repayment moratorium allowed eligible borrowers to defer loan and financing repayments for six months to ease cash flow during the pandemic.
Borrowers who did not wish to take up the moratorium could inform their banks and continue making payments as usual, according to Bank Negara.
Subramaniam said that not all of the affected families share their woes, but they are trying their best to hold on to what they have now while missing their loved ones.
He added that the uncertainty had also made it difficult for families to determine how and when to perform final rites.
“Even last rites, we don’t know if we need to do or how to do it because we don’t know when they passed on,” he said.
Sharing his own experience, Subramaniam said his family was still struggling to process the disappearance of his father-in-law.
He added that some families were also facing difficulties accessing money belonging to their missing family members.
