malaysia: pay up or get cut off
foe
malaysia
In September 2002, the recently
corporatized Selangor State Water
Department in Malaysia made good its
promise to cut the water supply to homes
and business premises which had not settled
their bills. The company was determined to
collect the RM232 million (US$61 million)
owed by more than half a million Selangor
consumers, which it urgently needed in
order to pay back the RM900 million ($237
million) owed to the three water companies
that supplied the water.
One housewife whose water was cut off
complained that the water bill for her
house amounted to RM1,700 ($447) over the
last three months. “I have been complaining
to the department over and over again that
my bills were unusually high. They told me
to pay up first and promised to check. Only
when disconnecting the supply today did
they tell me that there may be a leak in
the underground pipe” she related to the
press.
Friends of the Earth Malaysia feels that
these actions reveal the undisguised
disdain for consumers and disavowal of
social responsibility that privatization
will bring. Indeed, since water
privatization in Selangor State in 1994,
water tariffs have increased with no end in
sight. The last increase in April 2001 saw
water tariffs for domestic users increase
by 35.7 percent. There is currently a
proposal to privatize all water supply
departments in Malaysia.
The Malaysian government is taking the
wrong approach to solving the country’s
water woes. It is investing some RM60
billion ($16 billion) for more dams and
pipelines, while nothing is done to
preserve the vital catchment areas that are
the sources of our water. Twenty-three of
the 27 drinking water sources in Selangor
are heavily polluted with industrial and
animal waste, heavy metal and sewage. The
individual consumer is blamed for water
wastage - 36 percent of the total in 2000 -
although the biggest users are industry,
golf courses, hotels and agriculture.
We believe that water is not an economic
commodity, and that providing water should
not be a commercial service like providing
transport, electricity or telephone
connections. Friends of the Earth Malaysia
is campaigning for effective laws and
regulations that will protect consumers and
the poor, by guaranteeing equitable rate
structures, conservation measures and
universal access to water.
