KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia is preparing for its worst floods in a decade after heavier-than-expected monsoon rains caused severe flooding that killed three people and displaced more than 90,000.
The National Disaster Command Center online portal said Friday that 94,778 people, from more than 28,000 families, across nine states were evacuated to 527 temporary shelters. The northeastern state of Kelantan, bordering Thailand, was the worst affected, with 63,761 people evacuated from their homes, followed by neighboring Terengganu with 22, 511.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Friday that all Cabinet ministers were banned from going on vacation. He said they have been instructed to provide assistance in flood-prone areas.
“All ministers have been told to go to the ground. Yes, leave has been frozen for them,” Anwar was quoted as saying by national Bernama news agency.
His deputy, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who heads the disaster response, said Thursday that floods this year were expected to be worse than 2014, when more than 250,000 people were displaced and 21 killed. He was cited by local media as saying that weather forecast indicated that heavy rainfall next month would likely affect more states.
Zahid was quoted by New Straits Times as saying that government agencies were prepared to tackle the disaster. Nearly 83,000 personnel and thousands of rescue boats, four-wheel vehicles and life jackets as well as 31 helicopters are ready, he said. The government has also identified 8,481 temporary evacuation centers nationwide that can accommodate over two million people, he said.
“Given the severity of the situation, all parties have been mobilized to ensure the safety and welfare of flood victims,” he was quoted as saying by national Bernama news agency.
Floods are common in parts of Malaysia during the annual monsoon season, that starts in November and could last until March. The Meteorological Department has said the country can expect between five and seven episodes of heavy rainfall during this period.
Motorist cross a flooded street after heavy monsoon rains in downtown Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Loo Kok Chong)
Residents walk on a flooded street after heavy monsoon rains in downtown Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Loo Kok Chong)
Residents walk on a flooded street after heavy monsoon rains in downtown Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Loo Kok Chong)
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia left the nation's capital for London on Tuesday for medical treatment, said one of her advisers.
Zahiruddin Swapan, an adviser to Zia, told The Associated Press by phone that the three-time former premier and head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport late Tuesday on an air ambulance.
“Our senior leaders left the airport seeing her off,” Swapan said.
Her ailments include liver cirrhosis, cardiac disease and kidney problems, according to her physician.
Zia left behind a South Asian nation grappling with uncertainty over its political future after her archrival, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was ousted in a student-led mass uprising in August. Zia and Hasina are the most influential political leaders in Bangladesh.
An interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus is running the country and plans to hold elections in December this year or in the first half of 2026.
Zia was sentenced to 17 years in jail under Hasina’s rule following two corruption cases stemming from 2001-2006 when she was prime minister. Her supporters say the charges against her were politically motivated, an allegation Hasina’s administration denied. Under Yunus, Zia was acquitted in one of the cases in November and an appeal in the second case was being heard on Tuesday.
Zia, 79, was freed from prison on bail under Hasina through a government order and had been undergoing medical treatment in Bangladesh. But Hasina’s administration did not allow her to travel abroad for treatment despite requests seeking approval.
The special air ambulance was sent by Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Hundreds of her supporters gathered outside her residence in the city's upscale Gulshan area to see her off.
Zia’s motorcade took nearly three hours to cross about a 10-kilometer (6-mile) stretch of road to get to the airport from her residence in Dhaka’s Gulshan area as thousands of her desperate supporters greeted her on the way, creating traffic chaos. Her hours-long journey to the airport was broadcast live by television stations.
Enamul Haque Chowdhury, a close aide of Zia, told reporters that the air ambulance had arrived from Doha to take her to London, where her eldest son and heir apparent Tarique Rahman has been in exile since 2007. Rahman is the acting chairman of Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party and is expected to lead the party toward the election. The country’s dynastic politics have long focused on the families of Hasina and Zia.
Zia is the wife of late President Ziaur Rahman, a former military chief who rose to prominence during years of tumultuous politics after Hasina's father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country's independence leader, was assassinated along with most of his family members in a military coup in 1975. Zia's husband was also killed in 1981 in another military coup after he formed his political party and ruled the country as president for three years. Hasina's father led Bangladesh's independence war against Pakistan, aided by India, in 1971.
Zia’s personal physician, A.Z.M. Zahid Hossain, said Qatar’s emir arranged the special aircraft with medical facilities for the former prime minister, whose ailments include liver cirrhosis, cardiac disease and kidney problems.
Her departure follows dramatic political developments since last August, when Hasina’s 15-year rule ended. Hasina fled into exile in India as she and her close aides faced charges of killing hundreds of protesters during a mass protest movement that began in July.
Zia’s departure could create a symbolic vacuum in the country’s politics amid efforts by a student group that led the anti-Hasina protest to form a new political party. In the absence of Hasina and her secular Bangladesh Awami League party, the rise of Islamist political parties and other Islamist groups has been visible in the Muslim-majority country of 170 million people.
Zia's party has been bargaining with the Yunus-led government for an election sometime this year. Yunus said his government wants to make some major reforms before the election.
Bangladesh's ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, right, leaves in a car on her way to the airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to travel to London for medical treatment, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)
Supporters of Bangladesh's ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia shout slogans before Zia left Dhaka, Bangladesh, to travel to London for medical treatment, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)
FILE- Bangladesh's former prime minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia, center, leaves after a court appearance in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Dec. 28, 2017. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad, File)
