Selangor water crisis will scare away FDIs - MCA warns

The Selangor Pakatan state government must immediately remedy the water shortage problem to prevent the country’s most developed state from descending into the most backward state.

The Selangor Pakatan government should be blasted for its inability to resolve the water shortage problem and other problems, opting to shirk its responsibility by shifting blame to the federal government besides politicizing the subject. By turning blind to this serious issue and preferring to blame the former Barisan Nasional government, it is better for Pakatan to continue being in the Opposition.

The electorates voted for a Pakatan-aligned government. They did not vote to listen to Pakatan’s complaints nor see them shirk responsibility, but with the desire that Pakatan would seek solutions to their problems.

MCA’s service centers have seen more and more of the Selangor public coming in to complain, and sooner or later there will be 5.5 million people whose daily lives have been affected by water shortages, not to mention disrupting the livelihoods of traders and factory operations.

Don't politicize

Thus, the Selangor state government and relevant authorities should behave more professionally in dealing with this problem, and if they cannot, then they should just continue to remain as the opposition and accept the recommendations and advice of the federal government, so that the suffering of the Selangor people can stop.

The Pakatan Selangor government has said that they will solve the water shortage problem by reducing the amount of non-revenue water. They had also claimed that the Langat 2 water plant, which will transport water from Pahang to Selangor to cope with the water demands of Selangor, will cost too much and bring no benefits.

However, Pakatan should stop deliberately making things difficult for the federal government to implement its water supply plans, as their current water problems have caused many foreign investors and factories to pull out their investments in Selangor as they are facing losses due to the water shortages. The federal government’s plans will enhance Selangor’s water plan and prevent the diversion of the Selangor river to solve the water shortages in Petaling Jaya, Hulu Langat, Sepang, Klang and Kuala Lumpur.

The PKR-led Selangor state government should practise professionalism to settle the water supply problems, rather than quickly politicizing matters which will not solve anything which ultimately will detriment the rakyat.

Dato’ Theng Bok is the MCA Selangor Public Services and Complaints Chairman