Even as dry taps begin to flow in the Klang Valley, frustrated netizens were not amused upon learning that VIPs were allegedly getting special treatment by having water in tankers delivered directly to their homes.
Among the VIPs were Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari and his family. There were also allegations that federal ministers were getting the same special deliveries.
Unlike ordinary Selangor residents who were forced to purchase bottled water or wait in line for water, an Instagram posting by Amirudin's wife, Masdiana Muhammad, which had gone viral, showed an Air Selangor tanker parked right in front of their house with a hose entering the driveway.
"Thank you Air Selangor for sending water.
"I understand you are the frontliner right now, may Allah bless your services," said a part of Masdiana's caption on the photograph.
A separate screenshot from Masdiana's Instagram story posting yesterday also showed her children swimming in their private pool, with the caption: "Bila air takde" (when there is no water).
Netizens who commented on Masdiana's posting, in turn, shared their own photographs of queueing by the roadside to fill up water from public pipes or water tankers.
When contacted, Air Selangor confirmed that it had sent a tanker to Amirudin's official residence.
"Yes, Air Selangor did send water to the MB's house," Air Selangor corporate communications chief Elina Baseri told Malaysiakini.
Quizzed whether it was standard practice for Air Selangor to deliver water directly to the menteri besar's house, Elina said: "We don’t just send to the MB’s house. We do our best to send and help all our customers.
"If you noticed in our press release, we even received help from other states because our tankers are not enough to accommodate 1.2 million accounts," she added.
When it was pointed out that the rakyat's unhappiness was due to the alleged double standard by Air Selangor, Elina declined comments and directed further questions to Amirudin's office.
An aide to Amirudin later told Malaysiakini that Masdiana had in a separate Instagram posting today apologised for her initial posts.
"I realise my error in uploading the initial photos that had given rise to various interpretations.
"In fact, there were people saying the tanker was sent to fill up the pool. That is absolutely not true," she said.
Masdiana denied having any intentions to boast, but rather, the posts were her sign of appreciation for the Air Selangor staff who were hard at work.
"Therefore I apologise if my action gave rise to any misinterpretation or hurt anyone's feelings," she added.
Meanwhile, Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh took to Twitter and hinted at alleged special treatments given to federal ministers.
"Houses of ministers in Bukit Damansara, I urge to consider requests from other residents there for water tankers.
"Let the tankers move according to the order of the roads there. Wait for your turn," said Yeoh in reference to the area which also covers Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's residence.
The Sungai Selangor Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 and Rantau Panjang water treatment plants had to be closed down on Sept 3 after detecting pollutants in the water.
This is after pollutants were discharged into Sungai Gong that flows into Sungai Sembah which in turn feeds off Sungai Selangor.
Water will be restored in three phases, namely from Sept 5 to Sept 7 under phase 1, Sept 7 to Sept 8 under phase 2 and Sept 8 to Sept 9 under phase 3.
Details of the water restoration schedule can be viewed here. - Mkini
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