Water is clean and safe to drink even if it looks turbid or coloured as ditch water. The Selangor health authorities stringently monitor its potability with hourly checks. No expense is spared and the state spends a huge amount of RM800,000 -- about what it costs to buy two Mercedes Benz models for the state executive committee -- to ensure the purity of its water. "There is absolutely no question about its safety." So spaketh the Selangor Infrastructure committee chairman, Dato' Sharif Jajang, in the Selangor state assembly on Monday, 02 April 02. The water department -- once known as Jabatan Bekalan Air Selangor but renamed Perbadanan Urus Air Selangor to keep pace with modern bureaucratic indulgences and, if truth be told, to celebrate the decline of the services it provides -- maintained very high standards of water treatment.

Treated water is clean, he said, "but it could have certain particles when it flowed through pipes which could have been rusted before reaching the taps". Water pipes in Selangor are old and prone to burst. "This was where sediment particles could get in, but the water is not contaminated. It is this sediment that makes the water from the tap look dirty but it is not a threat to a person's health. Consumers should let the dirty water run before consuming it." The states considers water an important resource and the problem of rusty pipes so important that it allotted to replace old rusty pipes, repair burst pipes, remove sediments in water tanks and upgrade 'the effectiveness' of water sampling stations. So, consumers are told, what is dirty is clean when we say it. In other words, as far as water is concerned, what you see is not what you see.

One gets used to the water we drink. In my 40 years as a foreign correspondent, I have travelled the length and breadth of Asia, where water is or worse than it is here in Selangor. I am used to drinking water that is not perfect. I have had occasion to drink water of all colours and cleanliness in conditions worse off than I have ever experienced in Malaysia, and it has not caused damage. I have forced myself to get used to drink the water as I see it whereever I am.

But in the modern society we live in, this fetish for cleanliness is so ridiculous that people drink mineral or distilled water, often more expensive than an aerated water drink, than get used to the local water. You see this when you travel in buses and trains: the bottles of mineral water to sustain them through the journey. There was one classic instance when Singapore soldiers, on join exercises with the Malaysians, came fully equipped with dozens of bottles of mineral water each to sustain them through a fortnight in the jungle. When one Malaysian company commander ordered the Singaporeans to empty their mineral water into a basin full of rain water collected, there was a near mutiny.

The urban Malaysian is not far behind: he lays great store in the purity and cleanliness of his drinking water, though not in other areas of life. The air in the Klang Valley is clear but it contains so many impurities but no one cares. If the water looks clear and white as he perceives it, he would drink it even if it contains poison. It must look pure, not be pure. If it does not look as it should, all the King's horses and the King's men could not force him to drink. In any case, no one believes the Selangor state assembly or its state government when it makes astounding statements like these. If it is as Dato' Sharif puts it, why did it take him so long, and then in response to a query from a backbencher, to assure the public that all is well with Selangor's water supply?

Somehow, no one in Selangor believes what Dato' Sharif spouts. It is for him to prove beyond doubt that the water he is says is clean when people retch at having to drink it. Since he is a member of the National Front (BN) administration in Selangor, he said has the unanimous approval of the state government. It is now incumbent on it, and him, to prove what he says as not only believable but true. So, let us put it to a simple test. Let the mentri besar and his state cabinet prove its claim that dirty water is clean water by drinking in public water collected not by its officers but from a random collection submitted to it by residents fed up with the quality of water that flows from their taps. Would it dare take up the challenge? When was the last time he drank water that he assures us is good clean water?

The state has cut down its commitement to clean water. It privatised it to a crony linked to an UMNO vice president and former mentri besar. The cost of water rose, followed by a water shortage. The deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, takes issue with me when I alleged, not without having seen the evidence, that Selangor's water shortage at the time was caused by the need to fill the man-made lake in Putra Jaya as quickly as possible with fresh water.

Here is another: Had the impure water in Selangor taps recently to do with water diverted so the foreigners at the Formula One motor race would not be inconveniences with the excellent water Selangor gives its residents is not good for them. As the culture and tourism minister tell you, the transient visitor is in whose name and glory we plan out future. It is now time for the Selangor state administration to put its money where its mouth is. Would it? I doubt it. Unless it is mineral water with harmless colour added. In keeping with the BN rule: Do as I say, not as I do.