Selangor Water: Leading Expert Debunks Blame Game Leaving Khalid Nowhere to Hide

The Selangor Government’s credibility in its attempts to blame Syabas for the water crisis is evaporating. Khalid is running out of excuses. The latest from Selangor is that an independent expert has come forward with an opinion that will not make Pakatan very happy. 

Dr Ahmad Zaharuddin Sani Ahmad Sabri is a senior lecturer and water expert at Universiti Utara Malaysia. In a detailed analysis of the present crisis, he came out with several arguments that have been lost in the ceaseless blame game about the current shortages that have affected more than half a million people.

Firstly, he reminded Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim that water, like refuse collection, is a state responsibility. It matters not whether the actually delivery of services is carried out by the Government or contractors; if the taps run dry the state is responsible. That means that an on-the-ball Government must look at how that water will be provided now and into the future.

Secondly, he reminded the people of Selangor that Syabas, the concessionaire that the PKR-led administration now blame for the crisis, is 30 percent owned by the Government. Not only that, but the Government has two seats on the board. If Syabas’ water provision strategy has been so wrong over recent years why didn’t those Government representatives do anything about it? Those board members are damned by their inaction.

“A 30 per cent share is powerful in a business, but the state government acts like they don’t want to know what happens in Syabas,” Dr Zaharuddin said.

“It’s as if Syabas is a separate entity and they can even say they want to sue Syabas.”

He has also reminded the public that under the agreement between the Selangor state government and Syabas, day-to-day water provision is controlled by the contractor but capital expenditure (capex) is the responsibility of the state. So when Syabas started saying that it needed new pumping equipment at its Wangsa Maju pump house back in 2009 it was up to the Government to act. It didn’t. And that is the very equipment that has now failed triggering the crisis in Cheras and Ampang.

This is another argument that is being ignored by Khalid and PKR Strategic Director Rafizi Ramli as they utter threats to sue Syabas for the sake of belatedly sounding proactive.

Dr Zaharuddin said whenever any issue becomes a political football like this has, the victims are those at the very end of the cycle – mothers at home with their children, turning on the taps to find that there is nothing there and as the Prime Minister reminded us Saturday, the elderly forced to carry buckets of water up stairs.

“As a government that cares about the people’s welfare, the people must be priority. I urge them to stop political games because water belongs to all of us…it belongs to the people and we are just operators…temporary operators to provide water to the public,” Dr Zaharuddin said.

Dr Zaharuddin’s assumption that the Selangor Government cares about the people is just that – an assumption. The administration’s willingness to neglect its duties and then blame others is startling. We don’t need the help of an academic to conclude that.