I share C Hashim's concerns in Water bills will drown consumer rights regarding our government's attempt to privatise water supply. While he/she has detailed the inadequacies of the Water bill, my opposition to water privatisation however is based on principle, rather than on the details of implementation.

Simply put, the Malaysian government does not practice true privatisation. For only profits are privatised, losses are nationalised. The consumers/taxpayers are at best in a no-win situation, while the developer is guaranteed a no-lose venture. Heads they win, tails we lose, either way, the taxpayers are made fools of.

Some privatisation projects do make a profit, but only if they are near monopolies, like the energy and telecommunications industries for instance.

Because there is no pressure to perform, either because it is a monopoly or the government promises to bail them out (take Plus, MAS for instance), efficiency is not the top priority. So the argument that privatisation improves efficiency rings hollow.

In Malaysia, privatisation is a euphemism for plundering taxpayers and parceling natural resources or infrastructures that were built on taxpayers money to a handful or cronies.

We can improve the Water bills all we want, but if the government is inhabited by people who shamelessly admit to asking enforcement officials to 'close one eye' and make no apology for being corrupt, there will be no difference.