Thursday, July 15, 2010

Muhyiddin: People Will Accept Tariff Hikes

DPM Tan Sri Muhyiddin's Yassin is so completely out of touch with the Rakyat, making a complete mockery of the Prime Minister's call for a “people first, peformance now” government.

In responding to the various criticisms levelled at the Deputy Prime Minister on Monday by Pakatan Rakyat leaders with regards to his warning that “a water crisis is on the way” and the Selangor Government “will become bankrupt”, Tan Sri Muhyiddin has shown a complete lack of empathy for the man on the street, and instead cares only for the survival and profits of BN crony companies.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin claimed that "It is not an issue of cronyism ... If the (concessionaire) faces losses and closes down, you and I will not get water supply," resulting in Selangor, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur having to face “a severe water crisis”.

The Deputy Prime Minister has got his priority mixed up. If a private company like Syabas who is given and accepted a lucrative concession is unable to manage its finances and fails to deliver the services required under the concession agreement, then all the government will have to do is to find another party who can fulfil these services without burdening the rakyat with steep tariff increases. Both Gamuda as well as the Selangor state government have offered the better alternatives, but are completely shunned by the Federal Government. Tan Sri Muhyiddin is instead trying to protect the interest of Syabas.

What was most shocking was the Deputy Prime Minister's dismissive attitude towards the plight of the ordinary rakyat when he said he does not think that “consumers will protest if there is a substantial increase in water tariff, if this comes with clean water supply.” It is the Federal Government who has signed the concession contract with Syabas which allowed the company to raise tariffs by 37% in 2008, 25% in 2011, 15% in 2014 and 10% every subsequent 3 years.

The population in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur is already burdened with high and increasing cost of living coupled with stagnating income and yet, the DPM has the cheek to say that he does not think the consumers will protest substantial increases in water tariffs!

Tan Sri Muhyiddin instead continued to insist that Selangor's policy of giving 20m3 of free water per month to each household is the main cause of the state's water problems. He has obviously been ill-advised for the state is paying for the free water is financed by the profits derived from the state investment agency Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd (KDEB)'s minority stakes in some of the state's water companies.

What was most telling was the Deputy Prime Minister's nonchalance over the fact that in his home state of Johor, where he was the Menteri Besar til 1995, has the highest water rates in the whole country post-privatisation.

The average water rates in water-rich Johor is 90sen and RM2.93sen per cubic metre for domestic and industrial consumption respectively, as opposed to 31sen and 94sen in water-scarce Penang. Despite that, major townships such as Kluang and Batu Pahat faced severe water shortage issues earlier this year.

His response was a most arrogant dismissive “the people of Johor did not complain”. Instead he continued to harp on the fact that the cost of water production in Selangor is rising and it is unfair to penalise the companies by not allowing the increase in water tariffs.

The rakyat of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur has suffered enough, a “people first, performance now” government would look for a solution which will reduce the burden to the rakyat, and appoint a company which is able to meet the quality targets. The Selangor government's water industry consolidation proposal does that, but the Federal government has instead chosen to ignore it to protect the interest of Umno cronies.

9 comments:

Donplaypuks® said...

That's right!

It's obvious Muhy is protecting his cronies instead of fighting in the best interest of the Rakyat.

All those who voted UMNO/BN before, please take note. This Govt and its cronies, while asking you to tigten your belt and eat cake, is living it up and rippping us off BILLIONS of $ daily!

Next time, vote wisely!

dpp
we are all of 1 race, the Human Race

Anonymous said...

“the people of Johor did not complain” ... that's becos there wasnt a channel for johoreans to complain. the water tariff hike came when bn swept clean 100% in 1999 and without notice whatsoever, barang naik! hope the present crop of opposition SAs will highlight this issue and/or go on a signature drive to register complains from johoreans!

Anonymous said...

This is why when Muhiyiddin takes over, his popularity will be short-lived. The man is a poor technocrat. Its not surprising he does not get it.

His formula will largely be classic Mahathir - get the right wing on his side, spend like crazy, abuse his powers and institutions, when the money is gone and victims starts to pile up, the whole thing will come crumbling down.

The man knows nothing else. Look at how he is handling the education portfolio. He has done NOTHING and if anything steps backward. Why is he so worked up about water when he is education minister? Because he smells political opportunity.

He is smart politically and smarter than Najib but you don't run a country on politics alone. Politics alone will ruin a country.

Anonymous said...

Our politicians have turned lying into a fine art, it will be most useful if we include this subject into the classrooms so that our future students turned nation leaders can outsmart those mat sallehs in negotiations.

najib manaukau said...

It is obvious now that the speculation that the snap election is coming in September.
The deputy must think the voters will not remember the increase when the next GE comes ?
You have again and again proven that you as a moron have a very short memory but it would be raised by the opposition when the next GE comes.
You are indeed a disgrace to all the Malaysians !

Anonymous said...

Accept..! What accept?

We are being "FORCED" to la.. Stoopid bloody fool!!!!

}:(

Those fools are in the position to accept coz they "won't" feel the pinch.

What about the poor & the VERY poor..??? And the rest of other unfortunated souls?

Where's the allocated millions to HELP the poor? Which poor, how & was it allocated...??

Than only can they increase it. Want to make us high income bracket. Konon!!!

For sure high poor statistic!
And why RM4billion to them? Money is really dropping from the sky for them lah...!

Prepare for GE13!

liquid snake said...

without doubt I know that your goodself YB will keep up the pressure but the country seems to be bleeding profusely right now. no disrespect but the Johoreans are kind of ignorant in this case? unbelievable! wake up!

Anonymous said...

The best comment I have heard on the price increases:

'Thank you Perkasa!'..

Anonymous said...

YB Phua. What can the general public do after the Government announced the tariff hikes? Can they ask the petrol kiosk operators for a discount when pumping gas? The Government is missing the point to avoid the vital issues when the public cry out loud for stamping out the corruption, increase in transparency when awarding tenders, eliminate cronyism, increase in efficiency, avoid wastage, etc. Scandals emerge one after another. They only look for a change.