Solve water crisis and stop blaming Syabas, Pua tells Selangor MB

(Malay Mail Online) – Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim should take proactive measures to help those facing water cuts instead of passing the buck to state water concessionaire Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas), DAP MP Tony Pua said as his public disagreement with the mentri besar over the state’s water woes dragged on today.

The Selangor DAP chairman said Khalid owes affected residents an explanation as to why there are still water supply disruptions despite the state government’s “guarantee” that there will not be a repeat of the water shortage crisis earlier this year.

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP said he was “worried” over the Selangor Mentri Besar’s explanation that the state government did not yet control Syabas, which Khalid had repeatedly said were the ones at fault for the ongoing supply problem.

“More importantly however, even if the state government is unable to fulfill the ‘guarantee’, the question is, what can the state government do to provide immediate assistance and relief to the victims of serious water disruptions?

“Should we not have some empathy and put in place a ‘Plan B’ for these long suffering water disruption victims?

“Surely, a responsible and caring Pakatan Rakyat state government should do much more than just ‘blame Syabas’ – even if they are indeed the rightful party to be blamed,” Pua said in a statement here.

Firing back at Khalid for saying yesterday that he deserves to be schooled on what the state government has done to resolve Selangor’s water woes and why Syabas is to blame, the federal lawmaker told the mentri besar to pay a visit to the homes of those suffering from the crisis.

He reminded Khalid that he had given his full support to the state’s water restructuring efforts – even to the point of being sued in court by Syabas.

“My support for the restructuring hasn’t wavered. Selangor is facing a water crisis today precisely because these profit-maximising privatised water companies are only interested in increasing tariffs, and hence under-invested in the necessary water infrastructure over the past decade,” Pua stressed.

The DAP MP repeated the suggestion by fellow DAP lawmaker Ong Kian Ming for the formation of a high-level water task force comprising of the MB, key elected representatives and state officials to solve the supply problem.

“While waiting for the state to finally take over control of Syabas, we cannot just sit back and allow Syabas services to make a mockery of the Pakatan Rakyat government.

“The rakyat does not want to see quibbling Pakatan Rakyat leaders. They want to see a pro-active Pakatan Rakyat government who will go out of its way to share the Rakyat’s burden and ease the pain of their plight,” Pua said.

On Wednesday, Syabas warned residents in Gombak, Petaling and Klang of possible water disruptions due to alleged low-levels of raw water in Sungai Selangor, affecting up to 157,000 users

Selangor ― which also supplies water to the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya ― previously enforced rationing from February to April this year after water levels at the main state dam plunged due to an unusually long dry spell.

Selangor’s water supply situation is among issues that have left Khalid increasingly isolated from his own PR as well as allies DAP and PAS.

Earlier this year, he was the subject of political manoeuvring by PR ostensibly to remove him as MB, but escaped after the purported plan to install Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in his place fell through.

Khalid’s handling of two hot potato issues — the state Islamic authorities seizure of 300 Malay- and Iban-language bibles and his apparent support for a proposed highway being opposed by state residents — has also led to increasing attacks from DAP, in particular.

DAP has claimed that PR may lose Selangor back to Barisan Nasional in the next general election if Khalid continues in the manner that he was administering the state.

Although once lauded as a technocrat, Khalid is now being criticised for making unilateral decisions without consulting allies in PR.