The cabinet will decide at its weekly meeting tomorrow whether or not to revert to its plan to set up a parliamentary select committee on water privatisation.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz said this today, after accepting a memorandum from a civil society delegation at the lobby of Parliament House.

Led by Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) president Marimuthu Nadason, the group included comprised representatives of trade unions and consumer associations.

The two-page memorandum urged Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to approve the plan for the select committee, after the idea was dropped to ensure that management of privatised water supply is achieved on schedule by year's end.

"Fomca believes the committee will play an important role in gathering public feedback, including from professionals and academicians, towards reform of the water services industry," Marimuthu said.

Enhance democracy

Economist Charles Santiago said the committee should be formed for the good of the economy and to enhance democracy, "unless (the country) is being run by a secret society".

Members of Parliament are among those who have criticised the reversal of the idea. At a meeting last Thursday, they asked Energy Water and Communications Minister Dr Lim Keng Yaik to re-propose the plan to the cabinet.

They also asked that the draft of the two bills - National Water Service Commission Bill and the National Water Services Industry Bill - be circulated to MPs ahead of the first reading in the Dewan Rakyat. They explained that it would be difficult to suggest amendments otherwise.

Nazri said the MPs have offered a compromise by suggesting that the select committee could be told to complete its work within three months.