A Malaysian politician was widely mocked on social media for suggesting the country turn its deadly monsoon flood season into a tourism event for surfers.
Datuk Kamarudin Md Noor, chairman of Malaysian state Kelantan's tourism, culture, arts and heritage committee, made the suggestion because the state seemed "deserted" during the annual monsoon season that brings severe floods to the area, according to reporting by The Star.
There are two monsoon seasons, Southwest Monsoon from April to September and Northeast Monsoon from October to March. The Northeast Monsoon season is the deadlier of the two, with states experiencing about 20 days a month of rain and accumulating between 13 and 27 inches of rainwater per month, according to the Climate Change Knowledge Portal. During each season, death tolls range from several to dozens of deaths.
The country is currently experiencing some of its worst flooding in a decade, according to Reuters, as three people have died and more than 90,000 people have been evacuated.
Social media users slammed the politician for his thoughtless suggestion.
"This is not thinking outside the box, but out-of-your-mind," one person commented on YouTube, per Free Malaysia Today.
X user Xavier Naxa suffered "second hand embarrassment" from the politician's comments, adding that it would be odd to celebrate the floods while Kelantan people suffered.
"If stupidity could be converted to diamonds, these people would be millionaires," Xavier wrote.
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