According to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, assumptions cannot be made that massive land reclamation work by Singapore at Pulau Tekong contributed to the recent floods in Johor.
In direct reference to remarks made by Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman who had openly blamed Singapore's land reclamation for having narrowed the river mouth of Sungai Johor, causing massive flooding in Kota Tinggi. Ghani accused Singapore for narrowing the delta which had slowed the discharge of excess rain water into the Johor Straits thus causing massive flood in Kota Tinggi.
Najib had this to say: "People are fond of making all kinds of accusations. This ought to be substantiated. "I learnt that excessive rain over a 24-hour period in some areas, which is unusual, may have contributed to the floods."
World-Class politicians who was a former university lecturer. Didn't we have a better explanation? At least Samy Vellu would have blame the Act of god for he knows god will forgive him for the stupidity. Why don't blame global warming and the melting of the ices at Antarctica?
In direct reference to remarks made by Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman who had openly blamed Singapore's land reclamation for having narrowed the river mouth of Sungai Johor, causing massive flooding in Kota Tinggi. Ghani accused Singapore for narrowing the delta which had slowed the discharge of excess rain water into the Johor Straits thus causing massive flood in Kota Tinggi.
Najib had this to say: "People are fond of making all kinds of accusations. This ought to be substantiated. "I learnt that excessive rain over a 24-hour period in some areas, which is unusual, may have contributed to the floods."
World-Class politicians who was a former university lecturer. Didn't we have a better explanation? At least Samy Vellu would have blame the Act of god for he knows god will forgive him for the stupidity. Why don't blame global warming and the melting of the ices at Antarctica?
4 comments:
Hopefully, he will next blame his daddy and mummyfor giving birth to him...wasted sperm and egg
Hi Maverick,
I'm no Ghani supporter, but after I read it, and looked carefully at what Singapore has done in Pulau Tekong, I wonder if its not so far fetched. I once studied hydrology and an awful lot of fluid mechanics, but never applied it at work since then, but you can never forget the fundamentals.
In some cases, Singapore has reclaimed land off Pulau Tekong right up to the limit of their territorial boundary...that means only 1/2 the channel is left, the Singapore side of the estuary has disappeared. Anytime you do that to a relatively narrow channel, the speed and pattern of water flow in that channel will drastically change. Could that cause heavier sedimentation upstream in the Johor river ? I have no idea - only a serious expert investigation could prove it either way. There's computer software these days which can model that - they need to set up a realistic model of the geography of the whole Johor river estuary + the Straits of Johor. Pretty heavy hardware needed.
It makes no sense to me. The river is too small to have that kind of impact. If the flood is confined to areas along the river, then it make sense. However, almost the entire state was flooded. When major towns were so badly hit, I can only think of poor drainage systems.
Eventually, it leads to responsibility problems. Abdul Ghani flunk very badly in this aspect. Even if we leave the drainage issues aside, what about his leadership in the disaster management? Should we be surprised with the scale of the problems when such leaders were at helm?
p/s
I used the free 'Google Earth' software to get the satellite images for comparison.
Ghani needs to be reminded that Singapore does not rule by the all-mighty party, so if he is so keen to find a scapegoat, look elsewhere. There are plenty in our own country.
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