SHAH ALAM, 4 May: The latest allegation by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak, that giving free water in Selangor caused the water rationing recently is clearly disliked and condemned by netizens.
Yesterday, Najib reportedly said that the populist move by the State Government to provide free water and the refusal to increase water tariffs is the cause of the water shortage in the state.
Selangor Kini found that on Facebook, the social networking site, many readers condemned the statement and even made Najib’s statement a joke and satire.
“In Johor and Negeri Sembilan there is no free water, in fact, it is expensive, yet they also had to ration. Go take a ‘selfie’ there,” said Sariph Sariphuddin.
“Water and free water are different matters. Free water is because of the government’s responsibility to the people, not pressuring the people with various taxes. Everyone knows the rationing is due to drought and reduced water in dams. Do not make less intelligent statements,” said another Facebook user, Roshan Rashid.
Meanwhile, many also compared the recent ration with the rationing done during Barisan Nasional’s (BN) administration in 1998.
“I remembered in 1998, there was four months of rationing due to the weather, so think again who was holding it (administration),” said Rossi Hail.
“In 1998, Selangor rationed water for 150 days because of the weather, in 1998 it was not PR,” said Joe Faris.
After the ‘kangkung’ (water spinach) controversy, the ‘selfie’ with the U.S. President, Obama, Najib’s latest statement invited sarcasm from users of social networking sites.
“I wonder, there are many comments condemning Najib, this means that the people do not like him, but he does not realise the people do not like him or is he just being oblivious,” teased Mohd Firdaus Abdullah on Facebook.
“Giving free water caused the drought, so the government plans to increase the water tariff so that there will be no more drought,” teased Anwar Haldir Aswad.
Since the end of February, the State Government took steps to implement scheduling or water rationing due to the unusual drought which cause the water levels in dams to deteriorate.
However, last week, the Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, announced that the rationing has ended due to the rising levels in dams, in addition to downstream rainfall which helped decreased water release at the Sungai Selangor Dam.
