KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 — As the number of floods begins to rise in the country, Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) candidate for the Bentong parliamentary seat, Young Syefura Othman, has said that Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) don’t have what it takes to handle the crisis.

Young Syefura said that after major floods hit the country last December, caretaker prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob had refused to immediately call for a special parliamentary sitting to discuss the matter, despite being pushed by PH MPs.

"The special sitting was only called almost one month later, on January 21, which is definitely too late for the families that were going through an emergency,” she said in a video posted on her Facebook page.

She also said that when Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was prime minister, he had tried to delay parliamentary sittings in order to further his own political ambitions.

She appeared to be referring to the Emergency that was enforced in the country last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, where there were no parliamentary sittings for over seven months.

"The government that is formed after November 19 must have fresh ideas, a team of leaders that are trustworthy and responsible, and the experience to make improvements to our broken political system. These qualities are in PH,” she said.

Earlier today, the Selangor Civil Defence Force said that a total of 719 people were evacuated from areas around Selangor after their homes were flooded.

Yesterday, Channel News Asia reported that there were 3,196 flood evacuees throughout the country — in Perak, Selangor, Johor, Kelantan, Melaka and Penang.