Its minister Takiyuddin Hassan told the Dewan Rakyat today that he received a directive from the Prime Minister’s Department.

The chief secretary to the government, Zuki Ali, will head the investigating team, while the ministry would be the lead agency. Other relevant ministries will be part of the team as well.

He said the rationale behind the appointment is that the ministry has a lot of agencies under it such as the forestry department, mineral and geoscience department, survey and mapping department, wildlife and national parks department, and other agencies as well.

“I hope the outcome of this investigation will be revealed and made public as soon as possible,” he said.

Wong Hon Wai (PH-Bukit Bendera) asked whether the government would produce a white paper on the floods, to which Takiyuddin responded by saying that a preliminary investigation on the matter is being conducted.

“If the investigation shows the need for a white paper, I think it will not be an issue for the government to prepare one to be presented to Parliament. I will make sure that it happens,” Takiyuddin said.

The announcement of the investigation came nearly two weeks after Takiyuddin said there was no need to set up a royal commission of inquiry to determine the cause of the floods and water surge phenomenon that hit Baling.