The Stinky Selangor: Water W(H)oes.

Yesterday morning, I woke up to the news that my cat had run away with my neighbour’s dog. It was depressing; I was in despair.

Then, to my surprise, I realised I was dreaming. Nay, it was a nightmare. I don’t even have a cat. It was those half-asleep dreams after you shut the alarm on your phone up and decided to just shut the eyes for about three seconds. which usually translates to lots of muscle cramps because you end up racing to work on time and you were sprightly 20 years old three decades ago.

Anyway, during my train ride, I made the usual mistake—the mistake that is poised to ruin the entire day—swipe the phone while reading news. And these came up:

I might as well be even more masochistic and scroll through TikTok suggestions.

The reason cited was “odour” pollution. No kidding.

Anyway, look at this. It’s happening to the richest state in the country. Oh wait. Is it still the richest state? Let me check again, with  my pal Chad G. Petey.

The vibrant business environment has definitely had to be sarcasm, right, Petey?

Because the vibrant business scene has to face these goddamned scenes in 2020 alone. Look.

February 7: A burst pipe in Gombak led to a water disruption, which was resolved within 24 hours.

March 17: Odour pollution at Sungai Selangor affected water treatment plants and was restored the next day.

April 16: Another odour pollution incident disrupted the water supply for 1.2 million users.

June 11: A burst water pipe near Jalan Langat in Klang affected specific areas and was resolved within a day.

July 14: Scheduled disruption due to plant repair affected nearly 300 areas, resolved by July 171.

August 11: Upgrading work caused a water disruption in Gombak, which was restored by the next day.

September 3: Unscheduled disruption affected over 1,200 areas due to odour pollution from a factory in Rawang.

We can only come to one conclusion: Boy, has the state been stinking, especially ever since Pakatan took over? What with all those odour pollutions? From the year 2019 until now, every year there has been this issue. Check out the stories for 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. It’s the sort of stinky consistency that can only be seen in the sty of certain hoofed animals.

While the state government and Air Selangor just kept using the same template and modifying the wording, date, and locations for their announcements, they have not said anything about a master plan to deal with the whole goddamned thing. Perhaps waiting for the next round of campaigning for the 16^th General Election—making empty promises—won Pakatan Rakyat big time the last time. It won’t hurt this time either. The voters are like frat boys who love ‘em sexy chicks despite later having the brains of barnyard livestock.

Anyway, the stage government and its sidechick, I mean, sidekick, Air Selangor, have not discussed openly about a permanent solution. Others did suggest solutions.

Malaysian Chinese Association’s (remember them?) vice president, Datuk Ir Lawrence Low, is the MCA vice president, and the MCA Selangor state liaison committee chairman has contributed an op-ed here. The IR is for engineer, by the way, unlike current Menteri Besar, a former football coach who has whatchamacallit…social science degree.

With some strong suggestions, Low noted yesterday’s dry taps affected more than 1,100 areas in the Klang Valley, including 280 in Petaling, 107 in Klang, 60 in Shah Alam, 175 in Gombak, 165 in Kuala Lumpur, and 325 in Hulu Selangor.

He also talked about the effect on KL, which I would call "Tempias.”

Tempias is a beautiful Bahasa Malaysia word that does not have an exact translation in English; it means droplets that sprinkle out of a splash elsewhere and hit someone or something else.

“KL residents might not vote in Selangor, but through no fault of theirs, they have to endure the identical predicament as their Selangor counterparts as the water channels are derived from the same sources by Air Selangor,” he wrote in there.

He had listed some ideas that may work, but hang on... politics, right? No way, the Pakatan government is going to listen to some MCA guy. Pakatan has DAP, which hates MCA’s guts.

If they are going to let this be a regular event like shopping mall sales, they are only going to cripple the economy of the state.

In fact, six years ago, fretting over the disruption, an associate professor had this to say:

“In general, the Klang Valley accounted for about 38 percent of Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) value in 2016, totaling RM1.23 trillion.

Based on estimates, if the issue lasts for a month, it is estimated that economic losses can reach over RM2 billion due to reduced productivity and the impact on other sectors.”

So, basically, Selangor State is committing an investment hara-kiri by leaving the water disruption issue unresolved if they keep not doing anything about the frequent dry taps until the next election. Folks, especially those who had high hopes (ini kalilah), are now exposed to the whole set of empty promises, starting from the federal to the indifferent state governments.  They are disgusted.

Can you fellas smell that odour?