SHAH ALAM, 11 Apr: Umno-BN’s behaviour of using the water issue to recapture Selangor is like ‘striking water on a tray and it will splash your own face’, said Klang Member of Parliament, Charles Santiago.
According to him, the water issue is actually Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) strength and to draw the people to continue to vote for PR.
“The public is not stupid to not understand. If they (Umno-BN) use the water issue, it will be PR’s strength more than a strength for Umno-BN,” he said when contacted.
Three main things that show the strength of PR is the provision of free water, to resolve the water disruptions in Ampang and to allot water shares to the people.
“I think that this strategy of theirs is weak and would not work because the current Selangor State Government is giving free water to the people, it makes the people happy,” he said.
The second point is that this clearly shows the weakness of the Selangor Water Supply Company. It’s not the issue of lack of water but Syabas’ failure to process water for the consumption of the people.
He explained that Syabas works strongly with Umno-BN to give people a negative impression of the State Government.
“And what is bigger at the moment is water shares for the people. The State Government has offered to give shares to the people, therefore the profits will be shared with the people,” he said.
In relation to that, he said that the water issue which is said to be a hot issue as claimed by Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Deputy Chairman of the State BN, Datuk Seri Noh Omar, does not weaken PR.
Previously, Lecturer at the Malaysian University of Technology (UTM), Prof Dr Azmi Hassan predicted that Selangor BN will use the water issue as a key ‘weapon’ in a manifesto specially designed for the state, which will be launched soon.