WATER DROP FROM TEARS?

Dear Editor,

IN THE run-up to the 13th General Election, many have placed their loyalties with the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. As people call for urgently needed 'change', the states that have been under the opposition’s control since 2008 are valuable case studies that highlight the inefficiency of the ruling state governments.

Several have experienced administrative mismanagement, including cases of water shortages that have left people without basic utilities, such as water. In Selangor, budget restructuring and tight conditions introduced under the watch of the state government have halted the construction of needed water treatment plants, despite the current plants running at near maximum operating capacity.

Water concessionaires such as Syabas have criticized Pakatan Rakyat for mismanaging the state's water resources, accusing the state government of distorting the issue for political gain, while thousands are forced to lug buckets of water into their homes for daily use.

In Kedah, the PAS-led government has been urged to halt logging activities in the ecologically sensitive Ulu Muda rainforest, where more than 20,000 hectares of pristine highland forests have been bulldozed.

Despite clearing the forests for farming, minimal agricultural output has been recorded and timber concessionaires have obviously profited from these activities. Indiscriminate logging in Kedah's Ulu Muda Forest Reserve under the watch of PAS can threaten water catchment forests that supply water to millions of people in Kedah, Penang and Perlis.

The opposition coalition is wrought with irreconcilable differences, such as the implementation of hudud law and dress code. If state governments are unable to effectively manage utilities and natural resources in their constituent states, it is difficult to imagine how they can manage governing the entire country.

As Malaysians, most of us agree that more meaningful reforms are necessary in the future to deal with corrupt, environmental degradation and long-politicized issues of race and religion. We should consider the possibility that a Pakatan Rakyat federal government would only create deeper divisions between races and political parties.

Best Regards,

.44 MAGNUM