KUALA LUMPUR (March 7): The government will hold talks with banks with regard to allowing a moratorium to be given to their debtors affected by floods, the Dewan Rakyat was told on Tuesday (March 7).

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said this follows the appeal from the Johor government after the state was badly hit by floods.

He said so far only Maybank and CIMB had agreed to give a moratorium of six months for the purpose.

“We have also contacted other banks to emulate the move taken by Maybank and CIMB,” he said during the minister’s question time on Tuesday (March 7).

Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi on Monday made an appeal to the PM to consider a moratorium of three to six months for flood victims in the state.

Onn Hafiz said the initiative would help ease the burden of the people who may have suffered huge losses due to the floods.

Meanwhile, Anwar said there is no need to declare a state of emergency in Johor as the flood situation is under control, and that power outages or impassable road issues in most areas have been resolved by the relevant authorities.

“So, what’s the reason to declare a state of emergency? There is no need for it,” he said in reply to Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim (Perikatan Nasional-Arau) who wanted to know the reason the government did not declare a flood emergency, especially in Johor.

Anwar also congratulated all machinery involved in helping the victims in the flood-hit states.

“In Johor, the preparation of state machinery and district officers seems to be more efficient, which had saved many lives,” he said.

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