BN backbenchers club chairperson Shahrir Samad has described Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali as being "insane" for not extending the deadline for the water restructuring agreement with the federal government.

 

"I would imagine if you are sane when all parties have agreed to work together. Suddenly he says he don't want the takeover. That is not being sane," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby today.

 

Shahrir was commenting on the Selangor government's unilateral decision not to extend the deadline for agreement with Putrajaya on grounds that the federal government  has breached certain terms of their initial agreement.

 

Shahrir said that reasons given by the state government for not agreeing with the deal was unreasonable and "strange" despite the federal government allegedly agreeing to the terms set by Azmin's ( left ) administration.

 

"The whole water issue is for the people.

"The federal government has agreed to the model that the Selangor government has put forward, which is for it to take over all the assets.

 

"Suddenly the state government says they do not want to agree to the deal because they might lose sovereignty, that is a childish excuse," said Shahrir, who is the Johor Baru MP.

'Cooperate like Kelantan'

 

Citing Kelantan (on hudud enactment) as an example, he added there has been instances where state and federal governments have worked together well, which he implied could have been done with the Selangor government as well.

 

"I think the situation has changed somewhat because of the experience in Kelantan, where we had a joint working committee between federal and state government.

 

"That is an opportunity to work together and sanity will prevail in issues affecting state, nation and peoples interest like the issue of water, we should work together," the Umno lawmaker said.

 

Previously, Azmin said the state government did not agree to the water deal with the federal government to prevent surrendering the state's " sovereignty " to Putrajaya.

 

This is because the federal government had gone against the spirit of the master agreement signed last September by asking for ownership of land "for free" from the state government.

 

The land involved is for the construction of the controversial Langat 2 water treatment plant, that has been an ongoing bone of contention between BN's federal government and Pakatan Rakyat's state government.