BN using water issue to attack Pakatan state government

New Sunday Times has its front page showing headline, 'Down to a trickle, Taps run dry: a million people in 209,678 households will be affected' and a picture of a Malay woman carrying two buckets of water, with her 3 children following her. Page 4 has headlines, 'Be pragmatic in solving water woes, Selangor told' 'Urgent need: Water shortage will also hit KL and  major industries, warns Muhyiddin' and 'Syabas proposes rationing'. Page 6 has 'Water cuts worry residents' 'Critical period: They hope authorities will come to a consensus' with a picture of Syabas CEO passing out bottles of drinking water to residents of Taman Sungai Besi Indah in Seri Kembangan, Selangor.

To me, it is so obvious that the headlines and pictures were meant to create an impression that the water situation is already in a critical stage. BN leaders want to portray that the water problem is a creation of Selangor Pakatan state government. But looking back, lop-sided contracts were signed by BN state leaders favouring mainly Umno leader Rozali Ismail's Syabas, and the problems were due to MB Khalid Ibrahim refusal to go along with their scheme of things. Federal Minister, Peter Chin had been pestering Selangor to carry out according to their original plans. To put it simply, BN is known for lop-sided contracts in favour of their cronies, at the expense of the public. Does it mean a new state government has to implement all such contracts regardless of how unfair they were planned and executed? Even now, they seem to have the upper hand in having Syabas to control water supply at will, like now when they are proposing water rationing and try and blame it on Selangor state government's refusal in carrying out the projects. Where it involves hardship to the people, Khalid is in an unenviable position to explain the real reason for any water shortages even if deliberately created by Syabas.

Meanwhile, Syabas won its case against Tony Pua, who has to pay up Rm200,000 in damages within days, despite his appeal to higher court. The fact that he could get people to contribute towards this sum easily shows he has their support in his fight against Syabas. - KoSong