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Keng Yaik should have a pre-Cabinet consultation with the 127-NGO Coalition Against Water Privatization (CAWP), NGOs and concerned MPs before presenting the two water bills to Cabinet next Wednesday Media Conference (3) by Lim Kit Siang (Parliament, Thursday): The Minister for Energy, Water and Communications Datuk Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik should have a pre-Cabinet consultation with the 127-NGO Coalition Against Water privatization (CAWP), NGOs and concerned MPs before presenting the two water bills to Cabinet next Wednesday to give true meaning to the consultation process with the civil society which the Minister has said is important to his Ministry. This is particularly important as the CAWP, NGOs and the civil society had not been brought into a meaningful consultation process by the Minister and his officials in the past 15 months since Keng Yaik took over responsibility for the water services industry after the March general election last year. I do not believe Keng Yaik is surprised at all that the CAWP, NGOs and the civil society are highly suspicious of his claim on Tuesday that he had become the latest convert to the NGO cause of “no privatization, no federalization” for water management in the country, and that the NGOs have no cause to worry about the issue to the extent of organizing a massive demonstration outside Parliament on Tuesday, for his Ministry’s actions had not reflected such a new commitment for the past year. As the CAWP, NGOs and the civil society find Keng Yaik’s claim that there would be no water privatization and federalization most unbelievable, the Minister should meet with the CAWP, NGOs and concerned MPs before he presents the two water bills to Cabinet for approval next Wednesday, for an opportunity for the NGOs to give their views whether the final draft of the two bills pass muster or whether they are so unsatisfactory and incompatible with the NGO cause that the bills should be sent back to the drawing-board for redrafting. If Keng Yaik is sincere that the final draft of the two bills will embody the NGO cause of “No privatization, no federalization” for water management in the country, he should have no qualms in having a pre-Cabinet meeting with CAWP, NGOs and concerned MPs, which will set a new standard of best practices for government consultation before new bills are introduced in Parliament. (23/06/2005)
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