On December 21, 2021, when Malaysia was inundated with floods, a Free Malaysia Today journalist wrote a news report detailing how the relief efforts – or lack thereof - were taking place.
In his report, headlined 'Fed up of waiting, the military rolls into flood relief', Sean Augustin wrote that the Malaysian armed forces had to quickly come to the rescue of flood victims without waiting for the approval of the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) on December 17.
Augustin had quoted an unnamed source revealing that the military was "fed up" with NADMA's slow response.
He quoted the source as saying: “It came to a point, where we (the defence ministry) decided, 'to Hell with NADMA'. Flood waters were already rising, we were not going to wait any longer.”
A similar sentiment was also echoed by Malaysia's chief of defence forces Affendi Buang.
“If the water is rising, I’m not going to wait for anyone,” he said when asked if the army had received NADMA's approval. If I’ve got my personnel and assets there, I’ll say: ‘Go ahead and save the people first.'" Buang said.
This news report is believed to have been a catalyst that led Augustin to be called in for questioning by the Malaysian police on January 3, 2022, according to The Rakyat Post.
Selangor was among the many states that was impacted by the floods in December 2021. It experienced the worst floods in 50 years with 54 people dead and 50,000 victims displaced.
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Cover image sourced from the New Straits Times and Free Malaysia Today.
