Selangor water: Where do I sign, MB Khalid?

1. It was reported in Malaysiakini that the Selangor State Government plans to organize a memorandum and obtained 100,000 signatures to present to the DYMM Agong. Khalid kicked off the “Return water rights to the Selangor people” campaign which was attended by 500 people yesterday. They aimed to send the memorandum on Dec 5^th, 2010.

2. I have a very strong view on this water issue that is plaguing Selangor. Water is essence of life. The human body consists of 60% of water. If one analyzed on tissue basis it can be as high as 90% in some tissues. It is so important that that access to water is a UN agenda. Water should not be regarded as a commodity that enriched a few at the expense of millions of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur residents.

3. The program was done because there is a possibility of the Federal Government bailing out the bond holders which will have an impact negotiation strategy that is put in place by the SSG. Since BN has made a mess on the water management while running Selangor, it must stop from making it worse. BN has made water a commodity that enriches a few people who are possibly a front to a political party.

4. The bailing out can be interpreted by many as not bailing out Rozali or CIMB but more of bailing out of possible hidden UMNO interest in the water business. Otherwise why the Federal government would wants to intervene in a commercial arrangement of bond issuance? The amount of bond is a few hundred millions which is a drop a in an ocean if compared to the size of Malaysian bond market. Bailing out has a cost and the cost will be transferred to the people.

5. The water business should be run by the government or state own GLC and not by some companies. The notion that government is not able to run it efficiently is a created one. Over the last 15 years, the state budget for JBA was reduced to trickling amount that made it impossible for it to run efficiently that led to the “piratisation” of the water business. With proper budget and right resources, anyone with good management and financial skills can run this business.

6. Through this blog, I would like to urge the people in Selangor to support this campaign and sign the memorandum. I would encouraged a systematic way of collecting this signature via the JKP’s and party machinery. Can someone set up a booth in Bukit Antarabangsa for me to sign? Can someone starts a Facebook or spread the message via twitter? If via Facebook, more than 250,000 people signed the anti 100 storey tower, I assume the SSG can easily surpassed this numbers. To Najib, I plead,PLEASE RETURN THE WATER MANAGEMENT BACK TO SSG.

courtesy of Right2Write (R2W)