When we have water sufficiency

The outrageous and unthinkable happened with the announcement of the 30% price hike of water. And the most nonsensical and condescending reason for the hike, is to teach the people the value of water and to make the people feel the price of water. What hogwash! This is not new. Yeo Cheow Tong did it in his time to raise the price of water for the same reason when we were paying 3c for water from across the Causeway. And a large part of our water supply is still coming from Malaysia and at an unbelieveable price today but they are going to make you pay, for their illusion or delusion, to appreciate the value of water.

The govt has its own computation for this ridiculous and callous demand for a 30% hike quoting sensitive issues that could not be disclosed. Would the govt at least come out with some of the major factors and assumptions, without the details, that led to this price hike? At least the people would know what are the devils and whether the devils are unnecessary, facetious and could be removed from the computation.

We were not really self sufficient in water in the past. We depended too much on water from Malaysia until Mahathir knocked us out from our comfort zone. We went on a rapid water production programme and declared that we were self sufficient in water. It was a great effort and duly recognised. We moved from 3 tiny reservoirs to 17 huge reservoirs today while our population went from 2m to 5.5m and crazily ramping up to 6.9m while some IMH cases asking for 15m.

The big question, were we self sufficient in water at 5m population and if so, why must we move on to a treacherous path of water insufficiency in the future? What are the factors that contributed to this dangerous situation? Can this be avoided? Many have been guessing that the key factor towards painting ourselves into a corner is the mad craving for 6.9m population or more for economic growth as if economic growth is everything and the only way to achieve it is through population growth. If that is the reason many developed countries would have taken that path but they are not.

And this belief, this thinking, is not far from the truth. If this insane craving for a bigger population is removed from the equation, would there be a need to build all the expensive desalination plants and put the country in a state of crisis in the future? And water would not be the only strategic resource that would be stretched to the maximum with a bigger population. Everything, every essential service and resource would be strained. The most critical, and some that we don't even have, is energy source. We are 100% dependent on external energy sources and this is a very precarious position to be in, not counting on the supply of food to feed 6.9m people or more.

Now you can understand why there are still mad men talking about nuclear power plants in this piece of rock. They think they are very clever, to mount nuclear power station on floating platform, to be towed away for safety, to where? Would the littoral states allow Singapore to do that in the South China Sea or Indian Ocean? Would our neighbours be comfortable and forgiving for a 'nuclear bomb' that we insist on having that would jeopardise their well being?

Our thinking has been self centric, only thinking of self, our national interest and not of the concerns of our neighbours. Would we accept it if Malaysia and Indonesia would to locate their nuclear power stations in Johore and Batam respectively? By the way, this talk of national interest is also questionable. Is it really for the interest and good of the people or for who? Who would be benefitting from this population craze that would lead to a slippery and treacherous road of no return? Many people do not think it would benefit them and there are other safer and more manageable ways for economic growth without tying a knot on our throat. The knot would only be tighter by the days and would hang us high and dry in the future.

Is this multi milllion dollar thinking or crap thinking? We are familiar with the simple analogy of force feeding ducks or geese and the consequences. We are also familiar with drug taking and how it would self destruct and must self destruct up to a point. There is no miraculous escape for the Peking ducks or the geese that produced the foie gras or the drug addicts. The end result is certain death.

Are we so stupid and desperate to take the unrestrained high population path that would put an unacceptable strain on everything? The first victim to this foolishness is water pricing and the farcical logic being uttered that made the 'utterers' looking stupid even to a child. Please spare these fools from making themselves looking more ridiculous by what they have to say to justify an untenable premise.