Wisdom drowns in water deal: Dr M turns on tap

Come next year, former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad pointed out that one of the agreements to supply up to 86 million gallons of water per day from Johor to Singapore at 3 sen per 1,000 gallons will end.

And despite being 84, the medical doctor turned politician still managed to dive into the issue with surgical precision, slicing it open with his scalpel of sarcasm.

He also noted that despite having constructed its own water treatment plant, Johor was still buying treated water from the island republic.

“I understand Johor is still buying treated water from Singapore for 50 sen per 1,000 gallons. The amount purchased should not exceed 12% of the raw water bought by Singapore.

“The agreement also stipulates that the price of raw water and treated water can be renegotiated and changed if both parties agree. Should the raw water price be revised upwards, Singapore will be entitled to revise the price of treated water,” he said in his blog posting.

“If, for example, under the current agreement the water price is increased to 6 sen per 1,000 gallons, i.e. 100%, Singapore can insist on the same percentage price increase by 100% i.e. from 50 sen per 1,000 gallons to RM1 per thousand gallons.

“If both sides agree on this quantum of price increase, Singapore will actually earn more from selling treated water to Johor than Malaysia will earn from selling raw water to Singapore,” he added.

'Malaysian negotiators generous'

Mahathir said Johor was allocated sufficient money to build its own treatment plan 10 years ago so as not to buy water from Singapore.

“I am told that for reasons unknown, despite building its own treatment plant Johor is still buying treated water from Singapore.

“Johor sells raw water to Malacca at 30 sen per 1,000 gallons. It seems that Johor is less generous towards Malacca than it is towards a foreign country. The wisdom of this escapes me,” he added.

These issues aside, Mahathir said a new agreement to supply Singapore with raw water from Johor might have to be made when the current agreement expires.

“I think despite Singapore's desalination plant, Newater and new reservoirs, Singapore will still need raw water from Johor. We should be willing to supply the people of Singapore with raw water,” he added.

However, the former premier said, the question was whether Johor should sell at 3 sen per 1,000 gallons and buy at 50 sen per 1,000 gallons of treated water as before or should it extract better terms.

“Malaysian negotiators are unduly generous and we often provide ourselves with no exit clause. I will not cite the cases.

“The public, the Johor people in particular, should be assured that we don't make agreements which are indefensible this time,” he added. - FMT