At the recently-concluded Johor state assembly sitting, Johor Menteri Besar Khaled Nordin announced in his budget speech that the Johor state government would increase free water rebate for the poor and hardcore poor from existing 20 cubic metres to 35 cubic metres from next year onwards.

The existing 20 cubic metres water rebate for poor and hardcore poor was initiated in November 2010, he said.

The announcement caught the imagination of the press and public alike. The social media was filled with news and posting of free water to the people of Johor. I would like to correct this misperception. The Johor government does NOT give free water automatically to the poor and most certainly not to all Johoreans.

Firstly, under Jabatan Kebajikan Malaysia Johor (JKM), the definition of poor is an income household of under RM720.00 per month. With the implementation of the minimum wage of RM900.00, this practically rules out all families that have at least a single wage earner.

Secondly, it has also been confirmed by the relevant state exco member that from the inception of the water rebates programme until this year only 791 households have benefited from this rebate. This is recorded in the Hansard and also reported in The Star on Nov 19, 2013.

There are approximately 1.5 million Syarikat Air Johor (SAJ) water account holders in the whole state of Johor. Simply mathematic exercise would shows that only 0.053 percent actually reap the benefit of this rebate scheme.

The problem with this water rebates programme is that any applicant who wishes to receive this water rebate has to apply for it at SAJ’s offices personally and the said person must also registered with his or her local JKM or welfare department. The majority of this underprivileged class are totally ignorant of this water rebate scheme and the bureaucracy dissuade them from applying.

Furthermore, as mentioned above, the intended target group is too narrow. Almost all lower income group and those that really would benefit from this rebate scheme would fall outside of the household income band.

The high cost of living in Johor especially the Johor Baru area is well-known. One must know this and surely question the sincerity of the government in helping to reduce the cost of living.

Johor already has the highest water tariff in Malaysia for both treated and raw water.

In comparison to Penang that paid RM0.31 per litre of treated water, Johoreans have to fork out RM1.05 for the same; a difference of more than 300 percent.

I have suggested in the assembly and indeed it has been included in Johor Pakatan Rakyat’s GE13 manifesto that all Johoreans would and should be entitled to 10 cubic metres of free water rebates. Not only would this ease the high cost of living in Johor but more importantly this would ensure that the benefit would really reach the intended target group.

JIMMY PUA WEE TSE is PKR Johor state assemblyperson for Bukit Batu.