Minister wants former PPS members to be absorbed by APM

KUALA LUMPUR: Former members of the illegal Voluntary Patrol Unit (PPS) should be absorbed into the Civil Defence Department (APM) to provide emergency assistance during any disaster in Penang.
Stating this, Minister in the Prime Minister Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said the members could be placed in the Civil Defence Emergency Response Team (CDERT).
He added the lack of CDERT in Penang in the community level had somehow dampened the emergency relief effort during the recent floods in the state.
"PPS should be absorbed into APM so that they can be together with CDERT in helping with the situation.
"We will provide them with the assets, we can give them a forward base, a place for them to store food and others based on their requirements," he told the Parliament Special Chamber on the flood in Penang.
PPS, a voluntary unit formed in 2011 by the state government, was declared illegal by the Home Ministry after it was labelled as an unregistered body by the Registrar of Societies.
Penang exco member Phee Boon Poh was reported as saying that the state had insufficient manpower to assist with flood relief works, adding that the PPS would have been able to mobilise its 9,000 members if it was allowed to operate.
The motion to discuss issues on the flood in Penang was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat earlier by Tanjong MP Ng Wei Aik.
Earlier in the Special Chamber, Sim Tze Tzin (DAP - Bayan Baru) has asked Shahidan to discuss with Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to restore the PPS.
Sim said the PPS has been proven in the past to be able to provide emergency assistance during any disaster event in Penang.