Forum: Respect water access as fundamental human right

by Beh Lih Yi     Published 13 Dec 2003    Source : Malaysiakini

The message from the speakers at the "Water, Right to Life" forum in Kuala Lumpur today is clear: "That access to water should not be turned into a market-based commodity but should be assured as a respect to the constitutionally basic right."

The forum, jointly organised by the Bar Council and National Human Rights Society (Hakam) in conjunction with World Human Rights Day (Dec 10), was held in view of the recent water privatisation deals and development projects initiated by the government and which have brought fears about the negative effects on water quality.


Five speakers were invited to speak at the forum which was officiated by Bar Council secretary Mohd Sofian Abd Razak. The three-hour session was chaired by lawyer Jerald Gomez.


Taking a U-turn

Social activist Charles Santiago alleged that the privatisation deal was merely to provide the opportunity for certain people with vested interest to make money and it could eventually make water becoming unaffordable to the poor due to regulation by market forces.
According to him, Malaysians are now enjoying a 95 percent access to water and electricity, a standard rate usually practised in many developed countries.

However, he questioned why the government is taking a U-turn to become "irresponsible" by privatising water resources to some questionable concessionaires.

"We pay for clean and safe drinking water. But why should we pay when we need to buy filter to remove unwanted substance from the water which is worse than nescafe ? We are paying for unclean and unsafe water," Santiago said.

The activist is the coordinator for Group of Concerned Citizens and Monitoring Sustainability of Globalisation, a research-based non-governmental organisation.

Sonia Randhawa from the SOS Selangor, or Save Our Sungai Selangor, pointed to the argument on the need to build dams, when the need for water and electricity was actually declining instead of increasing.

She quoted statistics from the Works Ministry which revealed that in 1997, water demand per person stands at 559 litres person annually and in 1999, the figure was 525 litres per person.

Randhawa said dam projects forced indigenous people to leave their homes, compete with others for jobs and buy higher price houses and caused a general loss of their livelihood.
Universiti Malaya law professor Prof Gurdial Singh Nijar said it is the state's obligation to provide and protect water resources while ensuring it fulfils human needs.

He said the government should not allow development projects to take place without taking into consideration its impact on water management. He cited the Bakun Dam project as one example.

Gurdial stressed that the right for water are recognised in many jurisprudence such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as many others international humanitarian or environmental laws.

However he said the right to water access is inherent in civilisation itself and not created by judges or any conventions.


Broader perspective

Despite this, another speaker, lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar said the right to water is not fully protected under the Federal Constitution if a federal court's decision last year is anything to go by.

He said the right to life under Article 5 of the constitution should be seen at a broader perspective where it should also encompass right for livelihood. He cited the Tan Teck Seng vs Penang Port Commission case in 1996 to support the argument.

However, this was reversed during a case in the federal court last year where the judges felt that right for life is only meant for the word 'life' itself.

"From that point of view, do we have right to water? No, life is just meant for life and no such thing (right to water) according to our judges at the moment - unless or until they could understand that it is far beyond from what is just life," he said.

Earlier, in his keynote address, Dr Anwar Fazal expressed concern over the "corporate hijacking" of water services. Anwar is a senior regional advisor for the Urban Governance Initiative under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

He feared that "cash register ethics" will prevail over conservation and care of the environment.
"If we don't deal with water issue constructively, water will be destructive with us," he warned.

A group of 17 associations led by the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association and ERA consumer submitted a memorandum to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia on Monday, claiming the government's decision to privatise the management of water resources and sanitation service is a breach of fundamental human right.

They said water resources should remain under state control to ensure that access is based on need and not affordability.