The government was today urged not to hastily resort to privatising water management without addressing crucial issues first.

The Selangor Waterwatch Committee said the country could fall into the trap of a new colonialisation if the privatisation was not conducted with foresight.

Its president, Marimuthu Nadason, warned the country could follow Indonesias footsteps in allowing foreigners to monopolise the water supply.

Jakartas water was privatised through a French and a British consortium during then president Suhartos regime.

They have monopolised water provision in Indonesia and seem to be going into other countries aggressively ... if it is not properly regulated, foreigners might end up controlling Malaysian water, Marimuthu told malaysiakini in an interview.

He said this in response to media reports quoting Works Minister S Samy Vellu as saying that water management may be privatised as it was no longer viable for state governments to bear the cost of supplying quality water to consumers.

Samy Vellu has also indicated that he would be tabling the proposal to the cabinet to obtain a final decision on the matter.

Cosmetic change

Marimuthu also questioned the manner in which privatisation is done, where more often than not, entities merely undergo a name change while the same incompetent workers are left to do the job.

That would result in just a cosmetic makeover. If you were ugly then, you will still be ugly now, he quipped.

Samy Vellu was also quoted as saying that water tariffs would be subject to government control after privatisation.

This was however met with some scepticism by Marimuthu.

For example, the French are pushing for ISO standards [for water quality] in a bid to make water a tradeable commodity in the future. This will invariably lead to higher tariffs, he added.

The proper way to privatise would be to make water a federal matter, said Marimuthu who is also the president of the Education and Research Association for Consumers Malaysia.

We need national-level water management for privatisation to work, there must also be consolidation of the different water entities engaged in the various stages [of water management].

Right now, we are getting too many separate bills from waste treatment to water distribution. These matters must be looked into, otherwise privatisation could end doing more harm than good, he added.

Malaysia has been suffering from a steady stream of water woes in recent years.

Most recently, taps have either run dry or gushed rust-coloured water in several parts of the country, particularly in the states of Selangor and Melaka.

Critics have hit out at the government for the poor management of its dams and also the destruction of water catchment areas due to rampant development and lack of planning by local authorities.