MANY VVIP politicians have learnt the hard way in recent times that seeking cheap publicity in their so-called quest to alleviate the hardship of flash flood victims will come under close scrutiny with 90% of the time backfire badly on their reputation.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has become the latest “posing for a photo” victim when brick bats were hurled at a Tweet of his shovel stunt so soon after Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina Harun was dealt a similar fate on social media over her water jet stunt.
Amid the flak received by most politicians in their “better be late than never” flood site visitations, MUDA (the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance) has caught the eyes with the transparency nature of its funding allocation which is tabulated to the last decimal.
Yesterday (Dec 27), party founder Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman revealed that RM2.062 mil had been collected thus far, of which RM789,521.66 was spent.
According to Saddiq, MUDA has also received in-kind donations which were given directly to the affected families.
To date, MUDA has been able to help around 500 families with their search and rescue initiatives, clean-up works, and other post-flood recovery efforts.
With the balance money, MUDA is planning to diversify ways to help the victims through their newly-launched BANGKIT campaign which encompasses:
- RM300 to 300 families who have been worst hit by the flood.
- 100 units each of school supplies such as school bags, stationeries, school uniforms and laptops for university students.
- 50 sets of fridges and washing machines.
- 80 sets of kitchen appliance sets consisting of a rice cooker, gas stove and a kettle.
Additionally, news portal Malaysia Sentinel reported that MUDA is also planning to recruit lawyers to provide legal help for matters pertaining to things like insurance claims and recovering important documents, and will also be collaborating with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) ’s like NYAWA to provide psychological assistance to all of those who have been affected by the flood.
MUDA has further assured that they have kept all the receipts and that the moment the donations and accounts are closed, all their expenses will be audited by a third party.
With that said, the party is currently inviting accredited accounting firms who might be interested in doing some pro-bono work to audit the donations.
“We’re going to set the right standard of transparency and accountability. And we’re going to prove that every cent that has been given will be spent well,” Malaysia Sentinel cited Saddiq as saying. – Dec 28, 2021
