At a conference on sustainable water management in Kuala Lumpur in October 2000 organised by the Malaysian Business Council for Sustainable Development, the representative from the Works Ministry stated that water in Malaysia will be privatised, justifying with the usual arguments in favour of privatisation.

The representative from the consumer organisation stated that historically, privatisation in Malaysia has not been a success. Malaysia Airlines, Indah Water Konsortium and many other major privatisation projects have in fact had the effect of transferring public wealth to private interest.

While it is true that the price of water in Malaysia is low, the approach taken by the Selangor government, however, is wrong. Most often the wasteful users are the middle and upper classes, whose public utilities expenditure is insignificant to them, therefore leading to their often wasteful habits and having unnecessary needs.

A different approach has to be taken. Users should be divided into the amount they use, i.e. a band. Just as road taxes differ according to fuel capacities, so should water use. And there should be a possibility of negative use, i.e. the poorest should have water supplied free of charge and infrastructure built to ensure they receive clean water.

The government has a responsibility to its citizens to provide public goods; this includes water.