Is Sanusi brave enough to cut water supply?

 

ADUN SPEAKS | Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.

After justifying the reason why the two Hindu temples were demolished - one to make way for a motorcycle park and the other for a futsal -he has turned to other matters.

He also said the Kedah PAS government would not give financial assistance to Hindu temples.

Then he went on to announce the discovery of rare earth elements (REE) in his state promising Kedahans billions in god-given revenue.

He revealed that a local company in Kuala Lumpur would tie-up with a foreign company apparently from China in the extraction of the REE.

He hoped that the federal authorities would not put obstacles in the way of the extraction of REE.

Sanusi’s grandiose talk of billions to made from the revenue generated by the mining of REE was met with a barrage of criticisms.

Environmental agencies and civil societies urged the federal government to halt the extraction of REE as it would cause irreparable damage to the environment resulting in floods, landslides and disappearance of crucial water catchment areas in the Ulu Muda region.

The CEO of Penang Water Authority (PBA), Jaseni Maidinsa gave a series of press statements, saying how the mining of REE would pose danger to water catchment areas in Kedah affecting water supply to states like Penang and Perlis.

More than 80 percent of Penang’s supply is drawn from Sungai Muda but on the Penang side of the river.

The criticisms regarding the exploitation of REE must have irked Sanusi to the extent that he demanded the Penang government pay RM50 million every year to the Kedah government as compensation.

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow

However, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow rebuffed this demand by a swift response by saying that his government would not pay a single cent to Kedah for the extraction of water.

This rebuff must have agitated Sanusi for him to issue the threat of cutting water supply to Penang.

He responded by saying that he would get the villagers located on the bank of Sungai Muda to place sandbags to choke off the water supply to Penang.

The threat of cutting off the water supply to Penang is serious and a seditious one.

Just imagine that if Sanusi succeeds in cutting off water supply to Penang, more than a million people would be without water.

It is not a laughing matter, but one of life and death.

Really, if Sanusi is a man of his words, who walks his talks, then I challenge him to take all the necessary steps to block off the water supply to Penang.

I hope he has the courage to do this, but he shouldn’t come out and say that he was using the metaphor of cutting off the water supply, and he really did not mean it.

Naturally, just in the case of Indians being high on toddy, he would blame those who misunderstood him for their lack of understanding of Bahasa Malaysia.

In other words, Sanusi’s Bahasa Malaysia is so full of metaphors, innuendos and deep meaning, no ordinary Malaysians are capable of understanding.

I think I am beginning to believe that Hindu temple demolitions, the metaphor of high on drinking toddy, Penang to pay for the water supply and the subsequent threat to cut the supply are not wild remarks but strongly interconnected to divert attention from Sanusi’s hallucination to turn Kedah into an El Dorado by the riches derived from REE mining.

El Dorado or the illusory utopia of Wakedah, the people of Kedah are going to suffer from the irresponsible bizarre antics of Sanusi. I wonder if this is the kind of leadership that the pious and god-fearing party like PAS wants to promote.

---

P RAMASAMY is the state assemblyperson for Perai. He is also deputy chief minister (II) of Penang. - Mkini

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.