Pakatan urge Khalid not to dive headfirst into water deal
(MM) – Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders today told Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim to defer implementing the water restructuring agreement the state signed with Putrajaya until the deal is fully understood.
Opposition Leader and PKR de facto chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the state administration must brief PR leaders to dispel the confusion stemming from the unexpected signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Putrajaya last week.
Anwar said DAP vice-president Tan Kok Wai, PAS central committee member Dzulkefly Ahmad and PKR secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution have been entrusted to deliver to the leadership council’s message to Khalid today, as the latter is scheduled to explain the MoU to state executive councillors and Selangor MPs today.
“Their task is, primarily, to alert him that it is important to keep the leaders informed so that we can explain and defend the agreement when we take it to the people,” Anwar told reporters after the PR leadership council meeting at the PAS headquarters today.
He said this in response to Khalid’s announcement today that the state will draft another agreement with Putrajaya including details on MoU, after discussion with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The agreement, to be jointly drawn up by the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water and state-owned Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Sdn Bhd (KDEB), is expected to be signed by both parties soon.
Anwar, who appeared together with PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali and DAP organising secretary Anthony Loke, expressed concern that rushing into the new deal could be detrimental to the state’s interests.
“Independent legal opinion must be sought, unlike the first experience where the MoU came with an agreement on Langat 2,” said Anwar.
He then urged leaders to display humility and to consult others before committing to agreements such as the water deal.
Mustafa later said that PR did not intend to meddle with the state government’s affairs but that PR parties have a “collective responsibility” to ensure Selangor’s interests are protected.
Last week, Khalid unexpectedly signed the MoU with Putrajaya that allowed the state to take over water utility infrastructure in return for granting the needed approvals for the controversial Langat 2 water treatment plant.
A day after its signing last week, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin came out to trumpet that the deal was “irrevocable”.
On Monday, PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli alleged that the hastily signed water deal between Selangor and Putrajaya was not only lopsided and possibly illegal, but will lead to an inevitable spike in water tariffs in the state, as well as in the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
