Water dispute recurs among two neighbors

Mahathir says he wants to renegotiate with Singapore

SINGAPORE — For more than half a century, Singapore has been getting half its fresh water from northern neighbor Malaysia — a deal that could be up for review as the new prime minister in Kuala Lumpur seeks to cut down on the country’s ballooning debt.

Singapore was once part of Malaysia, but they separated in 1965.

In his first few weeks back in office, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has put the brakes on projects and cut ministers’ salaries to tackle about 1 trillion ringgit ($249.2 billion) of national debt he blames on past corruption.

Now, he has his guns trained on the price of water sold to Singapore.

“I think it is manifestly ridiculous,” Mahathir said in an interview with Channel NewsAsia published on Monday, referring to the water deal. “That was okay way back in the 1990s or 1930s,” he added, saying he wanted to renegotiate the terms.

Asked about the water issue at a news conference later on Monday, Mahathir brushed it aside saying it “was not pressing”.

Singapore’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday that “both sides must comply fully with all the provisions of these agreements”.

Tensions between Singapore and Malaysia were high during Mahathir’s previous tenure from 1981 to 2003, and the water row contributed to the difficult ties. Since returning to power in May, the 92-yearold has said he will halt a highspeed rail project linking Kuala Lumpur with Singapore and would develop some offshore rocks that were the subject of a territorial dispute.

Back and forth

Under a deal penned in 1962, Singapore can import up to 946 million liters of water from the Johor River every day from Malaysia — around 58 percent of its current daily water needs — at a cost of 0.03 ringgit per 3780 liters. It is obliged to sell a small portion of treated water back to Malaysia at preferential rates.

If fully drawn, that imported water would cost Singapore around 2.7 million ringgit annually.

The water agreement was guaranteed by both governments when they separated in 1965.

However, Singapore says the relatively low price it pays for Malaysian water is because it has to bear the full cost of treating the water as well as building, operating and maintaining the pumps and pipelines from Malaysia.

Malaysia previously asked for a price revision in 2000 and Singapore countered with a request to fix water supply rates beyond 2061.

After a series of exchanges, the talks disbanded with Malaysia saying Singapore was being unreasonable and legalistic.

Singapore blamed Malaysia for the collapse, saying it was looking for a 200-fold increase in current water prices and that it became clear it had “no intention of striking a deal on future water after 2061”.

Singapore has recently been building up its domestic water sources — which include rain catchment and desalination — and pushing water recycling initiatives to become more self-reliant by the time the 2061 deal expires.