KUALA LUMPUR — Responding to criticism from lawmakers today (June 8) that he jetted off to the Middle East despite the earthquake situation in Sabah, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that he will visit the disaster zone tomorrow (June 9).

“Insya-Allah (God willing), I will go to Sabah tomorrow morning to see the quake-hit areas,” he said in his blog post on NajibRazak.com this evening.

Mr Najib said that financial aid and counselling service would be provided to those in need, adding that money will be made available for the repair of damaged infrastructure and buildings.

Sabah opposition lawmakers today slammed Mr Najib for his absence in a time when the state is reeling from the aftermath of the worst-ever earthquake to hit the country.

Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament Jimmy Wong said Sabah folk were wondering where the prime minister was and why he has not made an appearance to offer support. “We are very sad. In this time of disaster, the prime minister does not even bother to come to Sabah. What happened to you? We are experiencing grief,” he said in a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.

“Why wasn’t he able to come to Sabah? We have a sleeping government.”

Democratic Action Party (DAP) parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said that with the government’s recent procurement of a new VIP jet, the prime minister could easily have flown to Sabah to oversee search and rescue operations.

“One question uppermost among Sabahans when I visited the earthquake-hit zones of Ranau and Kinabalu Park was why Mr Najib, who said only last month that ‘I owe Sabah’, did not visit Sabah over the earthquake disaster before his Saudi Arabia trip on Saturday night,” said Mr Lim.

In a visit to Sabah on May 10, which is traditionally regarded as a stronghold for Mr Najib’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), he proclaimed that he “owes Sabah”, pledging to visit the state, especially the rural areas more often.

“With his new personal private jet which cost a bomb to Malaysian taxpayers, Mr Najib should have no problem to visit Ranau and Kinabalu before flying off to Jeddah for his three-day visit to Saudi Arabia,” added Mr Lim.

Opposition lawmaker Steven Wong also hit out at Mr Najib, whom he said, should now think of how to compensate mountain guides who will lose their businesses in the aftermath of the disaster.

“Giving them certificates is not enough. The government must think of some way to help these people who will lose their sole trade as activities on the mountain have been halted indefinitely.”

“Without these guides, there would have been more casualties on Mount Kinabalu,” he said, referring to the heroic deeds of several guides who had saved the lives of climbers following the incident.

Mr Najib left for Saudi Arabia on Saturday for a three-day working visit at the invitation of King Salman Abdulaziz Saud, a day after a magnitude 6 earthquake rocked Ranau, Sabah.

He was accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Anifah Aman, Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, Home Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Minister in the Prime Ministers Department Jamil Khir Baharum. The premier returned to Malaysia today.

According to Bernama, Mr and Mrs Najib performed the ‘umrah’ (minor haj) while in Saudi Arabia. He also inspected a Metro Line railway service in Saudi Arabia managed by Prasarana Malaysia and launched the second D’Saji restaurant of the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) in Saudi Arabia.

Despite not supervising disaster relief efforts, the prime minister issued a statement yesterday, saying that he was “closely following the developments” in Sabah, adding that Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, as the National Disaster Management Committee chairman, was there to monitor the situation and manage relief operations.

So far, 16 people, many of whom were climbers on Mount Kinabalu, have been confirmed killed in the earthquake, the first in Malaysia to have claimed lives.

Several minor aftershocks were also felt in Tambunan, Tuaran, Kota Kinabalu and Kota Belud.

Mr Lim Lip Eng, another opposition lawmaker who was also present at Mr Wong’s press conference, said this was not the first time that Mr Najib had disappeared during disasters in Malaysia.

Last December, Mr Najib came under severe criticism after being pictured playing golf with United States President Barack Obama while many states struggled with Malaysia’s worst floods in 30 years, which displaced more than 100,000 people. AGENCIES