Opposition lawmakers irked over disparity in flood aid from Federal govt

KUALA LUMPUR: Two Penang DAP lawmakers have urged the government to provide parity to Penang flood victims in the one-off cash aid it provides to flood victims nationwide.
Steven Sim (DAP-Bukit Mertajam) said while the government has pledged and also given RM500 flood aid per family in other states, it has only given out RM250 per family in Penang, according to the Parliamentary written answer.
"When I requested in Parliament for the federal government to increase its aid to RM500, the Minister replied that the government did not have enough budget for this," Sim said, calling the answer "disappointing and shocking".
"We are not asking them to match the contribution by the Penang state government, but we are only asking them to match the flood aid given to victims in other states as promised by the Prime Minister," Sim said during a press conference at the Dewan Rakyat today.
Meanwhile, Zairil Khir Johari (DAP-Bukit Bendera) questioned the federal government on whether it has treated Penang citizens as "second-class citizens".
He urged the government to allocate more money for about 52,000 Penangites who were affected by the floods last year.
Earlier this year, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said the government will provide Penangites with RM500 for every family affected by the floods, just as much as the aid given to Kelantan and Pahang in 2015.
But the aid to Penang only managed to cater to 21,869 affected families, where each family received RM250.
The Penang state government also provided a RM36.6 million aid for 52,353 families in the state affected by the floods, totalling to RM700 per family.