The National Economic Action Council has denied that it had spent RM1 million buying advertising space in local and regional newspapers to detail the Malaysian side of the story in the water dispute with Singapore

"That's not true," said its head of communications Abdul Rahman Sulaiman in responding to claims carried by PAS organ Harakah .

The publication claimed that RM1 million spent was spent on the regional advertising campaign, with half the amount going to the Asian Wall Street Journal alone.

"Of course there is a cost to everything, but considering the importance of the subject, we are very satisfied with the outcome (of the expenditure)," Abdul Rahman said, declining to state how much had been spent to date.

He added that full-page advertisements in regional publication AWSJ were needed to address the same audience who had earlier seen Malaysia's name tarnished throughout the region when Singapore published its own version of the story.

Full payment

Abdul Rahman confirmed that NEAC had paid for every single advertisement the council had taken out in the newspapers.

Full-page advertisements accusing Singapore of lack of ethics were placed in major local dailies including The Star , New Straits Times , Utusan Malaysia , Berita Harian , Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh for a period of eight days.

The advertisement was also published in the Hong Kong-based Asian Wall Street Journal.

At the regular rate for a full-page advertisement and going by the NEAC assertion on payment, the council would have paid at least RM1,385,764.60 to AWSJ and six of the major local dailies. ( See chart )

Following the breakdown in negotiations between Malaysian and Singapore, the NEAC was tasked with initiating a media campaign in response to allegations published by the Singaporean government in April.

In the booklet, 'Water Talks? If Only It Could', Singapore claimed that Malaysia had backtracked on an earlier agreed upon price of 45 sen per 1,000 gallons for raw water supply across the Tebrau Straits, up from the existing 3 sen.

Yesterday, the NEAC released its answer to the Singaporean booklet by publishing Malaysia's counter arguments in a symbolic 3 sen, 20-page booklet entitled 'WATER: The Singapore-Malaysia Dispute; THE FACTS'.

NEAC executive director Mustapa Mohamad told reporters today that the council has had "very good response" from the public over its media blitz and the publication, but that there were no plans at this juncture for any new campaign.

Speaking after an appearance at the Malaysian Economic Association national convention, Mustapa said Singapore could react in any way it chooses, but that Malaysia had laid the matter to rest with the publication of the "real facts" behind the water squabble.