Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad made yet another bold statement on the 1962 Water Agreement between Singapore and Malaysia.

On Aug. 13, the Washington Post carried an article by wire service Associated Press that says Mahathir is considering raising the price of water sold to Singapore by more than ten times.

This is despite Singapore saying that Malaysia has already lost its right to review water prices in 1987 under the 1962 agreement.

Not so charitable

Speaking to the Associated Press in an interview, Mahathir cited the price of the water that Malaysia sells to Singapore, which was set out in the terms of the 1962 Water Agreement.

Malaysia currently sells untreated water to Singapore at a price of 3 sen ($0.01) per 1,000 gallons.

He compared this to the price of untreated water that the state of Johor sells to the state of Melaka, at 30 sen ($0.10) per 1,000 gallons.

Mahathir described this price as "charitable" given that it was a deal between two Malaysian states and added:

"To a foreign country, we need to get more than that."

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However he declined to name an exact price he thought was reasonable, citing ongoing negotiations.

Singapore's Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam shared a link to the story at about 9:30 pm on his Facebook page. His caption read:

"Interesting news: Malaysia apparently wants to increase water price to Singapore by 10 times."

Sorry, no can do

Previously, Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan said in Parliament on July 9 that he expects both countries will abide by the terms of the Agreement:

"Singapore will fully honour the terms of the 1962 Water Agreement, including the price of water that was stipulated.

And we expect Malaysia to do so."

In addition, he said Malaysia has not only lost its right to review water prices in 1987 under the 1962 agreement, they have also acknowledged so, citing Mahathir himself no less:

“In fact, Malaysia has previously acknowledged that they themselves chose not to ask for a review in 1987 because they benefited from the pricing arrangement under the 1962 Water Agreement.”

Then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said in 2002 that Malaysia did not ask for a review when it was due in 1987 as they knew “any revision would also affect the price of treated water sold by Singapore to Malaysia”.

Raised the HSR issue too

Mahathir again weighed in on the high cost of the proposed High Speed Rail (HSR) project that would link Singapore and Malaysia.

Although he stated in a May 28 interview with the Financial Times that he intended to scrap the project , the Malaysian government has yet to officially inform the Singapore government of the project's cancellation.

Malaysian Economic Affairs Minister Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali met with Singapore authorities on Aug. 11 to discuss the HSR, and is expected to present a report to the Malaysian Cabinet this week.

On Aug. 12, Johor's Chief Minister Osman Sapian, who is a member of Mahathir's Pakatan Harapan coalition, said that the HSR was "not stopped" but was being "looked into".

As Mahathir continues his musings publicly to the press, it's important to keep in mind that his remarks aren't necessarily the same thing as official government policy.

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Top image from Mahathir Mohamad's Facebook page.