I would totally agree with senior lawyer and Petaling Jaya City Councillor Derek Fernandez that the Selangor state government should stop entertaining the concession companies that seek to control the water assets of Selangor through whatever means possible.

Knowing well that the courts will be of no help at the rate of how compliant our judiciary is, the best alternative will be to take a populist approach by getting the people's consent and as Fernandez had said it, to seize the water assets and manage them on their own.

The Selangor MB has started off on the right note by being tough with these water concessionaires but ultimately what should be explained to the people is that the grand masterplan is nothing but a conspiracy to keep all the vital resources under government-linked companies who operate under remote control from the central sdministration in Putrajaya.

This our beloved rakyat are slowly beginning to know but still do not see the waving of the iron wand from the federal government which is very obvious. The Selangor administration should be applauded for keeping its promise to slash water rates but this should not end in one term.

Keeping to a certain work culture and the fear of being sabotaged by their own state government employees should not stop the Selangor government from embarking on this agenda.

Water which emanates from the state should be left to the state to manage as opposed to making it a ‘weapon' for the federal government to use to ensure that the state governments toe the line.

The people want a participatory government and a government that doesn't see leaders making natural resources and assets a family property for them to pass from one generation to the other.

Therefore it will be good for the Pakatan Rakyat states to stop whining about not getting federal help and start sourcing for funds by working together to form a commonwealth of states and entice investors to invest.

To do all this, the state cannot play second fiddle to the federal government. Pakatan should strengthen state administration by infiltrating the state Election Commission office and making them clean up the state electoral roles and therefore making it a little easier to weed out phantom voters.

From what the new cabinet looks like, it looks as though we are in for another round of slogans and rhetoric and more politicking until the next elected representative resigns or dies or when the next general elections are called.

Knowing that government servants are the main obstacles in getting policies implemented, the Pakatan state governments should start using psychology to motivate them everyday so that the message of policy change gets through.

The control of all vital natural resources which are now under the control of the respective states has been the main aim of the administration in Putrajaya.

By having all the states' resources under their command by remote control through complaint GLCs, the federal government will hold on to power perpetually.

To break away from this, Pakatan Rakyat has to bring the people in so that participatory democracy stands guard against the federal government's might should the latter retaliate.

What most have envisaged is that the entire system of government delivery has to be changed and this change does not occur by just changing the individuals. The desire for change and total revamp must come from within and not just sloganeering.

Selangor must not relent on the issue of every citizen's basic right which is a right to basic water services from the State government at a rate payable which is not a burden to the people.

The Pakatan government in Selangor should give the suggestion for a public referendum a try as the town hall politics that have been introduced by it seems to be working.

Public participation shall be the only way for Paktaan to break the BN's iron grip on federal power. If the courts, attorney-general and the police would not want to hear the people out, then street-level politics it is.