‘Water crisis worse than 1MDB’

> National debt well managed, Najib tells Selangor MB

KUALA LUMPUR: The water crisis in Selangor is more critical than the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) issue, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Downplaying the 1MDB issue and its effects on Malaysia, he diverted a question by Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) on national debt and the capability of repayment to the water crisis in Selangor.

“I want to stress here that the water issue in Selangor is more critical ... why is Gombak hot under the collar when ‘water’ is mentioned? I wonder why?” Najib said.

Azmin in a supplementary question had asked the government to explain why the interest on the nation’s debt has increased over the years and whether the financial woes of 1MDB had any implication on the current financial situation.

Citing a recent foreign news report, he said the government had only spent 9% of the national income in 2009 to pay the interest on debt.

“The total cost of interest on debt continues to increase and today your administration pays 12.5% from the national revenue to pay it. If we compare this to Singapore, it only spends 6%.

“My question is whether the 1MDB crisis has resulted in the increase, or is there a more responsible reason for Putrajaya to spend 12.5% of the national revenue just to pay interest?” Azmin said.

At this point, the dewan erupted into chaos when Barisan Nasional MPs stood up to defend Najib and slam Opposition-led Selangor.

“Tan Sri how can you allow this? The reply has diverted from the question,” Azmin said, urging Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia to control the situation. However, Pandikar diffused the chaos by describing it as an art of politics.

“This is the speciality of Parliament. When a question is asked with a different meaning as the basis, then the answers will also be based on a different basis. That is politics. Just as long as it does not violate the standing orders.

“The question was whether the position of 1MDB is critical and the answer was the water issue is more critical. So both are critical,” he said.

“How can the water issue be more critical than 1MDB which involves billions and the national debt which involves RM42 billion?” Azmin said.

Najib maintained that the national debt is well managed.

BN MPs Datuk Othman Abdul (top left) and Datuk Abdul Azeez Rahim (bottom left) defended Najib when he raised Selangor’s water problem in response to Azmin’s question in Parliament yesterday.