By Remy Majangkim, MA63, Activist, Tutor, and Historian
KOTA KINABALU: Good day, everyone. There is an old adage in Sabah that says, “I would rather have no electricity than no water.”
A human body makes up around 70% water, and we rely on it to survive. These are the basic needs of every human on this earth, regardless of creed, religion, or race.
Sabah Water woes reach their zenith when frequent treated water disturbances occur throughout the state. It even affected the government buildings near the state capital.
The sale of water bottles is on the rise, and every household has no choice but to stock up on clean drinking water. Sabahan is quite knowledgeable on the topic of water, with their choices ranging from mineral water to distilled water. Mineral water is quite an expensive choice, and some distilled water will leave you with a drier throat.
Why is the state of Sabah facing an acute water shortage? To answer this, it all started with the denationalisation of the water treatment plant in the state. The then Prime Minister saw it as fitting that a water treatment plant that used to be managed and run by the state be privatised.
So now the water treatment plant is owned by private conglomerates and has ties with the state government. So the Sabah water works department has been disbanded and changed into Jabatan Air Sabah, and these government entities are now only responsible for the water distribution throughout the state. This all happened in the early 1990s and late 1990s.
A few decades after that, the ageing water pipes throughout the states need to be replaced with newer and bigger pipes.
The federal budget has been allocated for this endeavour, and the state receives its budget. Now that this is where the Sabah Watergate scandal begins, every contractor jumps at the opportunity to make money. It was said that all the contractors must pay a certain amount of money to secure the contract and receive their payment.
This is where the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Agency found more than 100 million wide arrays of cash and jewellery in the state’s own Jabatan Air Sabah office. The audacity just shocks the nation.
Now, less than a decade later, the people are the real losers in this fiasco.
Our past leaders have squandered and left an indelible mark on the people of Sabah. The UMS water fiasco is just the tip of the iceberg.
Any right-minded individual would know that Sabah has more than enough water for its population. The water disruption in UMS boils down to low pressure due to rampant water theft that occurs behind the UMS complex and supplies through Sepanggar Bay and Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park. (KKIP)
Recently, the state government ordered a task force to be formed to tackle the issue of water and electricity. In my opinion, it was a little too late by a few years, but better than none at all.
The complexity of Sabah water woes needs a bold approach; the people could not wait for another decade or so to see this come to light.
Advice to any political party eyeing the state government and in government: by the end of the day, you are ultimately responsible for the job that the people choose you to do; put politics aside and manage the state resources as an orderly society yearns.
