Johor chief minister Osman Sapian said on Friday that his state plans to stop relying on Singapore’s supply of treated water and intends for the state to be self-sufficient in terms of water, according to local Malaysian media.
His comments come on the heels of comments made by Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad calling a decades-long water trade agreement between Malaysia and Singapore as “morally wrong”, likening it to a “rich” country (in this case, Singapore) allegedly exploiting a “poor” country (in this case, Malaysia).
The PM here is referring to a deal made in 1962 which is tied to Singapore’s independence from Malaysia, where Singapore buys untreated water from Malaysia at three cents per 1,000 gallons and sells it back to Malaysia at 50 cents per 1,000 gallons — a small part of the cost it takes to treat the water.
In a report by The Star Online, Osman said that the discussion to no longer buy water from Singapore is still in planning stages. There is no current date as to when this plan might be put in place.
“I cannot share the details at this moment until this plan can be executed in the shortest time possible,” he said to Utusan Online.
The matter was discussed at a retreat in Malaysia’s federal administrative center Putrajaya, which was attended by Mahathir himself along with Malaysian cabinet members.
In response to Mahathir’s speech to encourage the Johor government to seek redress from Singapore regarding the water deal, Singapore foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan cautioned against Mahathir’s “strong, emotive words, no doubt intended to rouse public opinion”.
“The 1962 water agreement is not about who is richer or poorer,” he said in Singapore parliament on Friday. “It is about the fundamental principle of respecting the sanctity of agreements.”
Balakrishnan reminded Singapore’s parliament that Malaysia lost the right to review the price of water under the 1962 water agreement after Malaysia did not want to seek a price review in 1987.
As the water contract was also “guaranteed” by both governments when Singapore separated from Malaysia in 1965, a breach of the water deal would “call into question the separation agreement”, said the foreign minister.
“This separation agreement is the basis for our existence of an independent sovereign state,” he said. “Therefore, Malaysia and Singapore must fully honor the terms of the 1962 water agreement, including the price of water that is stipulated in it.”
“Neither Malaysia nor Singapore can unilaterally change the terms of this agreement between our two countries,” insisted Balakrishnan.
