Media statement by Tony Pua Kiam Wee in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 14^th July 2012:

RM1 for Water Rights: 100,000 Malaysia support Tony Pua vs SYABAS Campaign a roaring success

The DAP would like to make an official announcement to declare that we have collected sufficient funds from our "RM1 for Water Rights: 100,000 Malaysians Support Tony Pua vs Syabas" Campaign! The campaign is an overwhelming success, and we will end the online fund-raiser today.

As at 4pm 13/7/12 (Fri), the online donation campaign has raised RM143,256, a remarkable achievement of small contributions from tens of thousands of Malaysians in less than a week.

The KL High Court has ordered Tony Pua to pay RM200,000 in damages plus interest plus costs. SYABAS is claiming RM80,000 for costs, but this is amount being negotiated.

The Party will be able to raise the balance of the required funds from our sell-out fund-raising dinner on 17/7/12 (Tue) Dewan Sivik MBPJ. The dinner has sold more than 100 tables.

Any excess funds from the collection will go into the DAP General Election Fund.

We would like to thank all Malaysians for the generous support and this only proves that is we act together, we can change the nation!

Background of this issue:

Selangor state government launched a campaign in 2009 to buy-back the privatized water concessionaires in order to provide quality water at affordable prices.

Tony Pua campaigned hard for the above and was sued for defamation by SYABAS. The High Court awarded RM200k in damages to SYABAS.

Hence we are calling for 100,000 Malaysians to contribute as little as RM1 each to support Tony Pua in his effort to battle with SYABAS and to continue to speak up for the Rakyat in this issue.

Tony has appealed the judgment to the Court of Appeal but he has been asked to pay the damages to SYABAS first. If the appeal is successful, the money collected in this campaign will be channeled to DAP General Election preparation fund.

* Tony Pua Kiam Wee, DAP National Publicity Secretary & MP for Petaling Jaya Utara