TWO days ago, Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad announced that the state would not be sharing its water supply with Penang due to scarcity.
He added that the decision was made following a joint research conducted by the two state governments and the Water, Land and Natural Resources Ministry which revealed that Perak does not have enough supply for its own use, let alone to share with Penang.
“Taking into account what had happened in the Kerian farming area where the water catchment in Bukit Merah has dried up, we had to rely on the cloud seeding to produce water source for farming activities.
“This shows that even in Perak, we have a water shortage problem. Also the Perak Economy Planning Unit revealed that the population in the state will increase to three million in 2050. More people mean more need of water,” The Malay Mail Online reported him as saying.
However, Saarani’s comments did not go well with several netizens, who then accused ruling party leaders of being envious of Penang.
User Richard KL Khoo added:
Netizen Selva Adinarayanan retorted by saying: (Sour grapes).
Yesterday, Environment and Water Minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man agreed with Saarani’s assessment of the situation and stressed that the decision was made by the Perak state government.
The PAS leader explained that this was because water comes under the respective state governments’ purview, and Perak had provided an explanation on the decision.
“Perak has to give priority to the needs of the state as it will have a population of three million by 2035,” The Star reported Tuan Ibrahim as saying.
Whither Malaysian Family?
However, several netizens were unimpressed with Tuan Ibrahim’s defence of Saarani, suggesting probably developed states should reduce contribution to federal coffers if that was the case.
User Amli Arch added: “This will give precedent for oil rich Wilayahs (regions) to stop sharing their wealth with Semenanjung Malaysia. Bagus dia punya idea ni. (What a great idea).
With that said, netizen George Low queried how such a thing could happen under the Government’s Malaysian Family concept.
“Keluarga Malaysia is just a name and without empathy and compassion?” he asked. – March 5, 2022
