Penang Floods Are A Sign Of Karmic Retribution, Says Padang Besar MP
"Do not forget."
By Nandini Balakrishnan — 08 Nov 2017, 12:07 PM
Padang Besar UMNO MP thinks that the devastating Penang floods are due to karma
According to a report by Free Malaysia Today (FMT), Zahidi Zainul Abidin said that the recent floods and landslides could have been caused by the misdeeds of some people, referring to karmic retribution.
"In this debate, I would also like to express my grief for those living up north as they had to bear with the flooding for two to three days.
"We must remember that the floods in Penang happened due to hill-cutting and poor development management in Penang. Do not forget," said Zahidi, during his Dewan Rakyat speech yesterday, 7 November.
Stressing that bad actions have consequences, Zahidi said that other people may end up paying the price of these harmful deeds
Flood victims in Bukit Mertajam on Sunday, 5 November.
Image via Saiyuti Zainuddin/Malay Mail Online"Sometimes, when we do bad things, like insulting religions, causing a cash between religions and organising festivals that are not in accordance with other people's religion and inciting anger, there would of course be karmic retribution and the people will suffer," opined Zahidi.
While Zahidi did not specify which festival he was referring to, the most recent one that sparked controversy in Malaysia was Octoberfest, with a number of PAS politicians saying that it is against the lifestyle of Malaysians.
After years of Octoberfest events in Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) banned the festival in KL, just weeks after Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) central committee member Dr Riduan Mohd Nor called the event pesta maksiat (vice party).
However, the police said that the festival was axed due to security concerns. Penang, on the other hand, went ahead with the annual beer festival, despite the negative comments and calls for cancellation.
Meanwhile, Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar, revealed that a broken dam is among the factors that contributed to the massive floods in Penang
"Yes, it is true that the food problem is prevalent in the East Coast, and our preparations are more focused for the East Coast.
"However, in Penang, we were told that things were truly unexpected, and in the briefing given to me yesterday (6 November), there was a case of a broken dam which caused water from outside of Penang to enter into the state," explained Noh in the parliament yesterday, 7 November, as reported by Malay Mail Online.
It was also reported that he did not specify or provide any further explanation on the broken dam issue.
The number of flood victims in Penang is more than 7,000 as of today and the flood has claimed the lives of seven people so far.