Water Crisis Again in Selangor!

11 Nov 2020

This piece is from a netizen..

Last week, the assembly was told that there are 5,589 illegal factories operating throughout Selangor, with 869 of them located near rivers. Local Government, Public Transport and New Village Development Committee chairperson Ng Sze Han (above) said that a large portion of them were found downstream, or after the water treatment plant intake points.

Of the 869 illegal factories located near rivers, 546 were under the administration of the Shah Alam City Council, Subang Jaya City Council (23), Klang Municipal Council (20), Kajang Municipal Council (155), Selayang Municipal Council (75), Sepang Municipal Council (two), Kuala Langat Municipal Council (27), Kuala Selangor District Council (14) and Hulu Selangor District Council (seven).

“Unlicensed factories are classified as those that have a temporary business licence but have yet to meet the technical conditions, such as land status, zoning or planning permission. They are not factories carrying out illegal activities,” Ng said.

Here is the question: If they have not met technical details and do not have planning permission, why are they allowed to operate in the first place? While local councils are quick to tear down awnings built over their porch, why isn’t similar treatment meted out to the offenders?

Isn’t Ng’s explanation akin to saying that people are driving cars without licence, but are competent enough to drive them?

If they are illegal, why shouldn’t they be ordered to close? Why are they allowed to operate? Why are they not floored with a sucker punch? Political considerations? Are their cables so strong that the authorities have deemed them untouchable, or is someone being amply rewarded for closing one eye?

Residents have had enough. The water supply disruptions cause so much hardship, and in the days of the conditional movement control order, we can’t even travel to areas with water. While many are suffering in silence, a few are seeing the lighter side.

Some suggested that the new tagline for Air Selangor should be: “Everyone can cry.” But last night, one Phoon Chi Ho tweeted: “I think AirAsia can easily change their business model selling water to the people of Selangor and still call themselves AirAsia!”

Laughs aside, we had enough of the state government, and local authorities should stop pussy-footing with illegal factories. Immediate and urgent action must be taken – like yesterday.

This is from another netizen..

The frequent water disruptions especially due to contaminated raw water from the Selangor River are actually ‘prelude episodes’ aka sabotage from an upper hand to pressure the Selangor government to restart the Pahang to Selangor water supply project. As everyone is aware, this project was once shelved by former PH MB Khalid due to the unreasonable high cost. Though this project was shelved by Selangor State, the project continued in Pahang to build that part of the parcel, the Klau Dam and reservoir. Now the Klau Dam is already built and the reservoir is fully filled up. It is time now for those involved to apply extreme pressure on the Selangor Government to reopen the project. Selangor River raw water contamination will be used as prelude episodes till the relevant authorities toe the line. To justify the early acceptance of the project, the hardship of water disruptions faced by the general public will be a valid reason to expedite the project approval. This is called playing politics at Rakyat’s cost.🤔😄

This is from another netizen..

To sum up..we lack legislators and so called leaders who lack the vision, the perseverance, the determination, the intellectual capacity and the integrity to make this country a great country.
Duty, Honour, Country, that is what is missing in the psyche of many of our politicians.