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MGG: Where Dirty Means Clean By M.G.G. Pillai 3/4/2002 1:55 pm Wed |
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. M.G.G. Pillai |