M'sia says talks with S'pore on right to review water price will resume after recovery from Covid-19

Rehashing the issue.

Kayla Wong | Faris Alfiq | September 22, 2021, 07:06 PM

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Malaysia's Minister of Environment Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said on Sep. 21 that Malaysia and Singapore will resume talks on reviewing the price of raw water once the Covid-19 pandemic in both countries has "recovered completely", Malaysian Chinese daily Kwong Wah Yit Poh reported.

Malaysia insists it has the right to revise the price

Tuan Ibrahim was responding to a parliamentary question filed by a member of parliament Xavier Jayakumar.

In his written reply, he stated that while the matter is being overseen by the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia's stance on the issue is "very clear and consistent", which is that Malaysia has the right to revise the price of raw water it sells to Singapore as stipulated under the 1962 Johor River Water Agreement.

He said both countries have been discussing the issue since July 2018, and that leaders from both sides have met in person from Dec. 2, 2019 to Jan. 30, 2020, to discuss the issue.

Singapore: Malaysia has lost the right of review

Singapore has repeated its stance on the issue on numerous occasions.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan said in March last year that Singapore is of the position that Malaysia has lost the right to review the water prices under the 1962 Water Agreement.

This was conveyed to Malaysia "as early as 2002", he said, adding that "Malaysia cannot unilaterally revise the price of water".

Nevertheless, he said that "in the spirit of bilateral cooperation", Singapore has "been willing to listen to and discuss Malaysia's proposals, on the basis that there is a balance of benefits for both sides".

In addition, he said that any review of the price of raw water sold to Singapore will also mean a review of the price of treated water sold to Johor.

The water price issue between Singapore and Malaysia was revived when former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad retook office in May 2018.

This is the first time it was brought up again by Malaysia since Mahathir stepped down in February 2020.

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