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Water War :Time to go back to negotiation table

 


Media Statement
by Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew

(Petaling Jaya, Saturday):  It's most regrettable that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, being the supreme leaders of Malaysia and Singapore for more than two decades, could not resolved long-standing and outstanding issues and conflicts between the two neighboring countries.

Both PM Khan and SM Lee should have made use of their positions and relationship to work out solutions for outstanding issues such as water, airspace, KTM land, CPF, Batu Putih (Pedra Branca) and the third causeway, when the two countries were enjoying friendlier relationship and greater political stability.

Not only both leaders could not resolve these issues at hand; they were even seen to play up these issues in the respective countries for political mileage.

Take the water issue for instance.

Both the government leaders do not give the full picture to their citizens. While many Singaporeans were not aware that their government was paying 3 sen per thousand gallon of raw water from Malaysia; and most Malaysians do not know that Malaysia was getting clean water from Singapore with a discounted price (Malaysia pays 50 sen per thousand gallons).

Even with the release of booklets the series of advertisements put up by the Malaysian and Singapore authority, Singaporeans and Malaysians in general still do not get the real picture of the conflict. The much-talked about booklets and advertisements do not seem to be helpful for the citizens of the two countries to understand the issue.

Is there a link between the Malaysia-Singapore water row and the water treatment plants contract given to a business tycoon in Johor?

The recent water row between Malaysia and Singapore has been blown out of proportion.

The question of rip-off does not arise because both countries stand to benefit from the water agreements signed in 1961 and 1962. The price of raw water at 3 sen per thousand gallons in exchange for clean water at 50 sen per thousand gallons should not be seen as unfair, as the cost of cleaning per thousand gallons is around RM 2.40.

Ask any engineer working with any water treatment plant should be able to ascertain this fact.

It is counter-productive to blow up the controversy to the extent of severing the close and symbiotic ties between the two neighbouring countries. The ordinary people of both countries would suffer if too much animosity was created by the quarrel.

In the event of Singapore stops buying raw water from Malaysia, Singapore would have to turn to Indonesia or other alternatives such as NEWater and desalination. Singapore would need to spend millions on laying new pipelines to link up with Indonesian waterways. The costs of NEWater and desalination process are very costly (nothing less than RM6 per thousand gallons).

While Singapore has a lot to lose, Malaysia has nothing to gain from stop selling raw water because Malaysia will cease to enjoy the right to buy clean water at a discounted price from Singapore. Johor will then need to process its own water at a cost no less than RM2.40 per thousand gallons. This would simply mean that Johorians would end up paying a much higher price for clean water.

In fact, the Johor State government must have anticipated this development. It has gazetted (on June 5, 2003) that the price of water to the Johorians will be increased by 30% effective from July 1 this year. It looks certain now that Johorians will have to pay for the higher cost of water treatment, whether Malaysia wins or loses in the recent water war.

On the other hand, it was reported recently in the press that a business tycoon was given a contract to build 14 water treatment plants in Johor. Would this explain why the Singapore-Malaysia water row was blown out of proportion, so as to justify the need for Johor to do its own water treatment? This is not far-fetched and personalities like Johor MB, PM Malaysia and the business tycoon who was awarded with the contract may be in a better position to explain.

The water issue should not be too difficult to resolve. There exists a willing buyer and willing seller situation.  Malaysia has plenty of raw water to sell and Singapore needs to buy a lot of it from Malaysia. If our forefathers could reach those water agreements before the independence and also in 1961 and 1962, there is no reason why PM Mahathir and SM Lee could not do the same.

Both governments have proven that they can work together in tackling the SARS problem. We urge PM Mahathir and SM Lee to use their influence positively, getting the top leaders of the two countries to return to the negotiation table as soon as possible before our relationship deteriorates to an irreparable level.

(1/8/2003)


* Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew, DAP National Publicity Secretary