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More flood victims evacuated

Mar 06, 2023

The number of flood evacuees in Johor has risen to around 49 thousand.

Batu Pahat has also now overtaken Segamat as the worst-affected district, with nearly 20 thousand victims currently at relief centers.

Despite the high figures, the Prime Minister says there is no need to declare an emergency just yet, because weather conditions have started showing signs of improvement.

As for the other states…Pahang currently has around three thousand evacuees, while Melaka has about six hundred flood victims.

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The Prime Minister has directed flood mitigation projects nationwide, especially in Johor, to be sped up.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim says action needs to be taken now to prevent a recurrence of major flooding in the future.

The PM says projects which have already been approved should begin in June this year.

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Meanwhile, the Education Ministry has rescheduled the SPM exam for over 500 flood-affected candidates in Johor, Pahang and Sarawak.

It says the exam date has been changed to March 16^th, involving the Economics, Science, Physics and Home Science papers.

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Retailers are urging the government to reconsider imposing a tax on luxury items…saying this would make the country less attractive to foreign tourists.

It follows the announcement in Budget 2023…that a luxury goods tax would be imposed on certain items like watches and fashion goods…to generate revenue, that would be used to help the lower-income group amid the higher cost of living.