Selangor consumers will get their 20 cubic metres of free water from this month as the stalemate in the deal has been resolved… with the state government agreeing to compensate up to RM11 million monthly to Syabas through the state investment arm Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd (KDEB). [Bernama]
When the plan was first announced in March, MB Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim has said that the free water policy is implemented by reducing the cost per unit of usage and the state government (and the taxpayers) need not pay subsidies to Syabas… looks like Pak Lah is not the only one that is good at flip-flopping.
Well, Selangor folks would not need to pay the water bill from their own pocket, but is the water really free? Those money are coming from the state government after all… money that can be spent on improving infrastructures, productivity and quality of living in other ways which in the end will benefit the people in long term.
Is this the right thing for the Selangor government to do? I am not sure. I don’t like the concept of subsidies (of any kind) at the first place… Malaysians have been pampered for way too long with the subsidies, so long that some of us have been taken it for granted and lost the sense of competitiveness.
Update June 19 - the water is not really free, seriously. Consumers will still have to pay a RM6 minimal (service) charge to Syabas.
getting rid of subsides in all forms is one of the ways to increase competence but for malaysians, not yet lar.
before lifting any subsidy, government need to adjust all its policies and have a new plan for its economy and get the parliment to approve and then anounce to the public the advantages of the new plan.
I agree ffad… Malaysians need time to adjust to their new lifestyle, and the government should have a complete packages to move along the way.
I however can’t agree on subsidising things that are not originally subsidised… it’s like moving two steps forward and three steps back.
what to do…since pakatan is the new state government that just took over from the powerful bn and also the subsidy for water is one of the promises made b4 election. i would rather have a government do what they promise. i think pakatan in selangor is doing very well.
wait for the federal government to change hands (hopefully)…then only can see more clearer what is pakatan plans for malaysia. hopefully malaysia’s financial status is still strong, this made me wonder how much money left in every government bodies eg. petronas, epf, proton and etcs., is there any auditing of accounts, and done by who? cronies?
if petronas 80 bil (est.1 year profit) and epf has 30 bil (est. 1 year collection) in balance…we are in deep shiit (est. DS), coz 100 bil ringgit is not a lot for malaysia.
PKR playing politics only, its still our money, and there are glorifying themselves for caring the rakyat. PKR and UMNO just the same… main politik seja, tak buat kerja.
#4 anon,
nolar, pkr better than umno, tak buat kerja tu only umno je.
It’s too early to judge whether Pakatan Rakyat is doing their job or not. It’s just over three months that they are in the office for the four new states; it would be harsh to judge their overall performance in such a short period…
I am not too fond of this water subsidy, but I can see improvement on other issues… at least the PR government is more attentive and approacable than the old BN gov.
Besides, mind that we had given Pak Lah’s government some four years to prove themselves… we should give PR a fair time-line to show their worth as well.
paklah is not as inhumane as tun mamak. paklah actually wanted to change the whole system that has been built by t.mmk but it is hard to do so. with the still powerful t.mmk and gangs watching, pak lah just unable to do anything so he got to “join”..and when he “joined”, people starts calling him fak lah. its been 4 yrs already since ‘04, it is hard to change, he (fak lah) of course did try but with tons of shining gold bars dancing around and of his power at hand…, even “mr.clean” also can become dirty…and is almost proven, that is, corruption is wide spread nowadays. i too understand f.lahs difficulties but all malaysian is at stake, there is no compromise.
For beneficial of doubts, I don’t want to question Pak Lah’s desire to make the country a better place (at least initially)… the biggest problem with him is his incompetency to do so.
Besides, he has an Achille’s heel… his family business. If Pak Lah wants to portray an all clean image, he has to forbid his family business to have any business deals with government related projects altogether…
It might sounds a bit unfair, but it’s a fact that he has to deal with. People just won’t trust that his family business is not getting special privellege whenever they got a government related projects… I find it hard to believe too.