Khalid must reveal water agreement for Selangor’s interest, say critics

Disagreement over the terms of the water deal is one of the reasons Pakatan Rakyat leadership sacked Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, September 15, 2014.

Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders and integrity watchdogs want the details of the RM7.45 billion deal on the Selangor water industry to be revealed as they fear that public interests could have been compromised by outgoing Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

Khalid signed the master agreement with Putrajaya last Friday, despite being a caretaker MB after PR component party PKR fired him last month for refusing to give way to their president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

The agreement’s details were also not discussed with the coalition’s leaders, who in the past have complained that Khalid’s negotiations with Putrajaya were done in secret.

Cynthia Gabriel of anti-corruption group C4, said the only way to prove that the deal really benefitted the public was for Khalid to make it public.

“The best way to dispel the view that he was rushing to sign it is for him to make it public. Legally he is still the Menteri Besar but this is still an awkward moment to be signing something so important.

“There are questions that he does not have the moral authority to decide on something like this,” said Gabriel of C4, which stands for Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism.

“So while we wait for the change in Menteri Besar it is important that Khalid is transparent and accountable for the decisions he makes.

“This is so that our right to clean, uninterrupted water has been protected in the agreement,” Gabriel said when contacted.

The master agreement is aimed at taking over operations of the RM30 billion Selangor water industry from four private companies and returning it to public ownership.

The agreement, between Selangor and Putrajaya, sets out in detail the terms and methods in which the takeover will occur and how much will be paid to the companies.

So far, only three of the four companies which manage treated water services have agreed to the take-over which currently costs RM7.45 billion.

The four companies are Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd (PNSB), Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas), Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor (Splash) and Konsortium Abass (Abass).

Splash, which manages treatment plants, has not agreed to the take-over bid.

Under the deal, Air Selangor Sdn Bhd will take over the operations of PNSB, Syabas and Abass. Previously PNSB and Abass ran water treatment plants, while Syabas was in charge of the piping system.

Taking back control of the industry had been one of the promises of the Selangor PR government in last year’s general election.

In the election, both Khalid and Selangor PR had claimed that the four companies, two of which are controlled by an Umno businessman, had mismanaged the treatment and supply network that fed water to some five million people in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

However, in February this year, Khalid and PR lawmakers had a falling out over the terms of the agreement. The later claimed that the agreement was biased towards Putrajaya, who before the 2013 election, opposed Selangor’s take-over plans.

Disagreement over the terms of the water deal was one of the issues that prompted PKR to expel Khalid from the party as a prelude to removing him as Menteri Besar on August 9.

On the same day that he signed the agreement, government news agency Bernama reported that Khalid would hold a special briefing to explain the deal.

However it is unclear who has been invited.

“A briefing is insufficient. He must make the whole agreement public,” said Gabriel.

PR leaders also questioned Khalid’s motives for rushing to sign the deal knowing that he would be replaced.

A PR leader who was part of the former oversight committee on restructuring the industry, which the deal itself is aimed at, also repeated the coalition’s stance that it would review the agreement if it was found to be deficient and lopsided.

Selangor DAP chief Tony Pua, who was a member of the oversight committee, said the urgency and secrecy in which the agreement was signed arouses both concern and suspicion.

“The devil’s in the details. Hence we call upon both Khalid and the federal government to make the deal public," he said.

PAS leader Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said that while he agreed in principle to restructuring the industry, he feels that the agreement could be reviewed if the coalition finds that it compromises public interests.

“We have to fulfil our fiduciary role. It is academic now just to ask for the agreement to be made public,” said Dzulkefly, another member of the water restructuring oversight committee.

“From our perspective, as soon as the new Menteri Besar takes over, we have to re-appraise it and if we find that it compromises the public’s interest, we have to take it up legally.”

Dzulkefly said one of the elements that needed to be looked into was how was the cost of buying out the companies was calculated.

Another PR lawmaker Charles Santiago, said another term that needed to be looked into was whether the people of Selangor would be given shares in the new company, Air Selangor Sdn Bhd.

“It was part of our promise to the people, that when we restructured the industry, shares would be given to families in Selangor”, said Santiago who heads the group Coalition Against Water Privatisation.

The group has been supportive of PR’s campaign to nationalise the industry and has helped to pressure Putrajaya to reveal the terms of past privatisation agreements.

However, Santiago has also been critical of Khalid’s moves to go ahead with the exercise even after he was removed as Menteri Besar.

“In this transitional period, you don't sign an agreement when a new team is taking over. It is not proper and there is a question of integrity.”

- TMI