PKR will launch a signature campaign tomorrow to pressure water concessionaire Syabas to hand over its operations to the Selangor government immediately.
NONE“(We) will launch a campaign to collect the signatures of one million water users to pressure Syabas to back down honourably,” PKR Consumer’s Bureau chairperson Yahya Sahri (right) said at a press conference today.
He said this is because Syabas has failed to perform adequately, citing numerous failures such as the recent water disruptions around Wangsa Maju and Pandan.
Once collected, he said the signatures would be handed over to Syabas.
At a separate press conference later, PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli announced that the party would also launch a petition campaign and protest next week to call for a pay cut for Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd chairperson Rozalli Ismail, whose company is a major stakeholder in Syabas.
Between Puncak Niaga’s three executive directors, Rafizi pointed out that according to Puncak Niaga’s annual report, are paid RM17,252424 in total, of which he believes the lion’s share goes to Rozalli.
“We want RM10 million for this pay and bonuses to be slashed immediately and channelled to a compensation fund for the residents involved, especially senior citizens in low-cost flats.
“Next week we can bring you (the media) and you can witness yourself how old people in their 60s and 70s carry pails of water at midnight.
“If possible, we want to bring Rozalli along. Let him see for himself. If he is a good person and sees this, I hope he would agree to the RM10 million pay cut and contribute to this fund,” he said.
The protest would be held at Syabas’ headquarters in Shah Alam on Jan 16 at 2pm.
In addition, he said the party is registering details of those affected by the water disruptions to file a lawsuit against Syabas for failing to manage its water services, accusing it of negligence.
The party would provide lawyers for the suit, he said.
Syabas accused of making people suffer
Meanwhile, Rafizi accused Syabas of making the people suffer, hoping to topple the Pakatan Rakyat-led Selangor government, because the excuses given for the water disruptions are unacceptable.
He claimed that three out of four pumps at the Wangsa Maju pump house – two meant to be backup pumps – had already failed for “some time”, leaving no extra pumps when the fourth pump “tripped”.
This means that Syabas has failed to provide preventive maintenance to minimise downtime, he said.
NONEAs for Syabas blaming the state government for not being able to supply treated water, Rafizi (left) said this is an attempt to politicise the issue because Syabas had somehow managed to deliver sufficient treated water through trucks to the affected communities.
However, he lamented that the trucks do not arrive on a regular schedule, forcing residents to stay up as late as 3am waiting for them.
“It is like Syabas really wants to make the people suffer. Therefore, I am convinced that this is a Umno’s political game that has received the consent of (Prime Minister and Umno president) Najib Abdul Razak.
“This is because they consider making life difficult for the people is the only way to earn votes and win over Selangor…
“We know that water sabotage is one of their strategies, but in all our naivete we never thought that it would come to this,” he said.
He said that PKR and PAS has founded a ‘Water Squad’ to monitor and help residents cope with the water disruption, and PKR has recruited a group of volunteer water infrastructure experts to provide advice on technical issues regarding water supply.
In addition, he said a campaign would also be held to inform them that the root of the problem is Syabas and Umno.
Meanwhile, he said PKR would purchase water pumps at about RM1,000 each to pump water from water trucks to each floor of the affected low-cost flats so that residents won’t have to carry the water up the stairs.
“However, this is a political problem. It requires a political solution… I don’t think they (Najib and Rozalli) understand pleas, meetings, and diplomatic attempts that have been mad before.
“They only understand one language, which is the political language… When they see people on the street and people are extremely angry with them; when they see how many people are signing up to sue them, I think their political masters in Putrajaya would back down.
“And when their political masters back down, Rozalli will also back down,” he said.--MalaysiaKini
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