Only one spokesperson during emergency events: Ahmad Zahid

KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today, expressed his dissatisfaction over government officials giving out differing media statements in the event of a disaster.

Zahid said this will only cause the rakyat to be confused with the different information fed to them.

He pointed out that some government spokespersons were rushing to provide media statements during events like fire, floods, landslide and accidents.

"In the end, it is the public who will be confused," he said.

"There will be only one (government) spokesperson (during a disaster) so that all statements made are uninformed and the public will not be confused," he said in his speech after officiating the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the police and the Fire and Rescue Department at Maktab PDRM.

Also present at the event were the Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun and Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar.

Zahid also lamented that some spokespersons were too eager to give out statements despite the lack of conclusive investigations.

He added, doing so would only cause speculations and analysis from the public on a particular issue.

"It will not be good. In crisis management, there should only be one spokesperson," he added.

Meanwhile, Noh in his speech said the MoU signed between the police and Fire and Rescue Department was to improve coordination between the two forces.

This is to ensure that there is no work overlap between them in fire investigations.

"With this MoU, the role and responsibility of each agency can be understood with more clarity," he said.

"If there was the element of foul play in a fire investigation, the Fire and Rescue Department will forward its investigation report to the police," he added.