It is shocking to see the executive chairman of Syabas bags in more than RM30 million despite having Syabas telling us that their capex is being frozen by the state government and do not have ample money to carry out maintenance and new pipe changing exercise. This leads to more water disruptions happening all over Selangor and make the so-called ‘water crisis’ even more evident and Selangorians have to live every day in fear, despite living in the most modern city in Malaysia.
Water service should never been seen as a big profit making business in the first place as access to water is a basic human rights. Therefore, the people who are appointed as the chairman or chief executive officers of any water company must have the obligation to carry out their duty in the most professional and ethical way before thinking of making any big bucks. As all of us clearly understand that without water supply, nothing can progress and we can dream on to become the developed country by 2020, or 2018 as mentioned recently.
What we are experiencing here is a case known as privatising profits and socialising losses, as claimed by the American intellectual Noam Chomsky. Pictures and videos of elderly people and housewives queuing up to collect water from the water tankers and then bringing back to the house have been circulated all over the mainstream media over and over again. People are suffering and getting frustrated day by day and yet, the top boss got his remuneration, from RM14 million in 2009 to a whopping RM33.4 million this year.
Information dissemination is still the major problem during water disruption and it is obvious that the water company has not stepped up to further invest and upgrade the communication system. How many of us receive up-to-date information regarding any scheduled or unscheduled water disruptions via sms or even through e-mails? In addition, calls to the hotline not being picked up and the inconsistency of the time of arrival of water tankers during disruption made things worse.
Water sector restructuring exercise in Selangor has been carried out since 2008 and we have yet to see any positive progress. We have spent too much time waiting and the situations have turned from bad to worse. We are demanding the restructuring of the water sector in Selangor to be done immediately and must be placed as the top priority in the country above any other agenda. Act now!
Foon Weng Lian