Friday, June 27, 2014

Rahman Dahlan wants Anwar's head to roll


A minister has dived into the water crisis in Selangor, which an opposition leader claimed stemmed from the Pakatan Rakyat-led state government’s incompetency.

However, Abdul Rahman Dahlan chose not to target Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and trained his guns on Pakatan supremo Anwar Ibrahim instead.

Anwar is the state economic adviser.

The Kota Belud MP was commenting on the scathing remarks by DAP's Tony Pua (right), who demanded that heads must roll over the issue.

"Tony Pua said heads must roll over recent water cuts in Selangor... Yeah, start with the economic adviser please," he had tweeted.

However, this drew a response from another Twittter user, who asked if Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's head should suffer the same fate as well.

"If that is the basis, then PM should also go since most ministries are wasting taxpayers’ money as per the Auditor-General's Report, no?" posted the user, called Melancholic Madness.

However, Abdul Rahman chose not to comment on this response, beyond saying, "Go ask Tony Pua. It was his statement."

In a retort, Melancholic Madness said: "Yes, it was his statement and at least he had the gumption to ask it. Would you have the fortitude to ask PM the same given all the wastage?"

Another user SV Balan called the minister a "busybody" and told him to look at his "own backyard" while Malcolm Gan chipped in, "Looks like the MP has just shot himself in the foot."

In a statement this morning, Pua, who is also Selangor DAP chief, said the recent water supply disruptions in the state were inexcusable.

With the dry season having long been forecast, he added that there was no longer any valid reason for the lack of preparation or contingency plan.

'Wrong for Pua to point fingers'

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP also noted that the menteri besar had previously guaranteed there would be no need for water rationing.

Over 700,000 households in the state and Kuala Lumpur were affected by the unscheduled water disruptions due to low water levels at water treatment plants.

Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) in a statement yesterday blamed the disruptions on the inability of the treatment plants to meet he high demand of water from the areas.

Meanwhile, the menteri besar said it is wrong for Pua to point fingers at the state government, state secretariat and  economic planning unit who had worked hard on the restructuring of the water industry.

"I am worried that accusations by Pakatan leaders will dispirit the concerned officers.

"Pua should urge Syabas and its top executives who are highly paid to work professionally, or at least urge them to cooperate with the state government to raise the standards of the water industry," Khalid said in a statement.

"Although the Selangor government has not yet entered a water supply crisis, I think it would be best for all political party leaders in the government and state officials to focus on reaching a solution and not issue provocative statements that are neither useful nor accurate."

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