President's Speech on World Water Day 2007
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WWP President's Speech on World Water Day 2007
World Water Day 2007, 21 April 2007
YAB Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, Ketua menteri Pulau Pinang, YB Dato' Koay Kar Hwa, Penang EXCO, YB Encik Teng Chang Yeow, Penang EXCO, YB Dato' Dr Anwar Fazal, WWP Advisor, YB Quah ADUN Bukit Bendera, Ir Jaseni Maidinsa, Acting General Manager PBAPP Sdn Bhd, Y.Bhg Setia Usaha Kerajaan, Dato'-Dato', Datin-Datin, Tuan-Tuan & Puan-Puan sekalian. Terlebih dahulu saya ingin mengucapkan ribuan terima kasih kepada YAB Ketua menteri kerana sudi datang merasmikan Hari Air Sedunia pada hari ini. WWP dan semua rakyat Pulau Pinang bersyukur kerana mempunyai Ketua Menteri yang begitu prihatin kepada rakyat, perlindungan alam sekitar dan perlindungan sumber-sumber alam, terutamanya sumber air. Saya juga ingin mengucapkan terima kasih kepada sponsor-sponsor kita PBAPP Sdn Bhd, Syarikat Spritzer Air, Indah water Konsortium, Jabatan-Jabatan Kerajaan, NGO-NGO, dan orang awam serta murid-murid sekolah yang mengambil bahagian dalam pertandingan melukis. Tidak lupa juga semua ahli jawatankuasa WWP dan volunteer-volunteer yang berusaha pada hari ini. Terima kasih juga kepada pengadil-pengadil pertandingan melukis, ahli-ahli Persatuan Bulan Sabit Merah, dan lain-lain yang juga menyumbang kepada peristiwa hari ini. Water Watch Penang merupakan NGO air yang tulen dan tunggal di seluruh Malaysia. WWP sahaja yang berobjektif tunggal menjaga sumber air sementara NGO-NGO lain mempunyai berbagai objektif. WWP berjaya menganjurkan Hari Air Sedunia setiap tahun dengan begitu meriah. Saya harap semua yang datang pada hari ini akan belajar sedikit-sebanyak tentang kepentingan air dan mustahaknya untuk menjimat air. Murid-murid sekloah janganlah ambil bahagian dalam pertandingan melukis tanpa mempelajari sesuatu. Pulau Pinang ialah negeri yang "miskin" dalam sumber air jika dibandingkan dengan Pahang, Perak atau Kedah. Namun begitu, kami bertuah kerana tidak ada kekurangan air untuk kegunaan harian. Kilang-kilang dan perniagaan-perniagaan juga cukup air sepanjang tahun. Ini adalah sebab Pulau Pinang mempunyai Syarikat Air yang paling efisien di Malaysia, mahu pun di rantau Asia. Rakyat Pulau Pinang juga menikmati tarif air yang paling murah di seluruh negara. Marilah, bersama-sama kita jimat air. Gunakan air tanpa membazir. Ambil beratlah tentang penjimatan air seperti mengambil berat dalam penjimatan petrol (yang berharag tinggi kini). WWP harap semua lapisan rakyat dapat menjimat air untuk memastikan sumber air pada masa depan berkekalan. Pada ketika ini, izinkan saya berucap dalam bahasa Inggeris.
What is World Water Day and what is its significance?
(1) History and significance of celebrating WWDWorld Water Day is celebrated on 22 March of every year. Each celebration follows a different theme to reflect the many facets of freshwater resources, and a different United Nations agency is selected to coordinate events around the world. World Water Day 2007 will be guided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) under the theme 'Coping with Water Scarcity’. WWP has adopted this theme for this year. Our T-Shirt at the back highlights this theme.(2) Why the theme “Coping with Water Scarcity”?(i) Water Scarcity is a world-wide problem
Globally, 2.6 billion people have no access to proper sanitation. The 1.1 billion people who don't have clean water use about 1.3 gallons a day, compared with the 40 gallons used by average Americans, the planet's biggest water guzzlers. Figure 1 shows how lucky Malaysians are: Our per capita renewable water is about 20,000 cubic metres per year. That means every Malaysian has about 20,000 cubic metres of water to use per year. The International Stress Line is 1,700 cubic metres per year. Malaysians have about 12 times that amount. In contrast, countries like Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, UAE & Jordan all have per capita renewable water below the International Stress Line! So, a lot of countries are water stressed and now we know why the UN has designated WWD 2007’s theme as “Coping with water scarcity”. This is because a lot of countries in the world have to cope and manage with very little water. If they do not cope well, they will be in serious trouble.
(ii) Climate Change may affect rainfall/water Malaysia – Recently, there was a Big Scare about an impending El Nino. One day it was devastating floods in Johor, and the next before the Johor floods were over, came the warning of El Nino and drought. The DG of DID had to reassure everyone that the DID may move the planting season backwards if El Nino struck so that we may have enough water. But as it happened, the current El Nino was not as bad as it seems. It was a mild one. Nevertheless climate change is real. Due to climate change, we in Malaysia may experience more rain during the wet season (therefore more floods…like in Johor 2006/7) and less rain during the dry season (more droughts), and the El Nino may be more unpredictable (1997/98 El Nino was terrible – KL, Selangor affected, Penang also in Balik Pulau). So, in future some places in Malaysia may experience water scarcity during some parts of the year. So, we have to be prepared for it.(3) Become a Responsible Citizen – Not “Kiasu” PenangitePenangite must be responsible:
- (ONE) Responsible to our Country & State – Being responsible to our country means not committing anything illegal. Now I am not talking about dealing in drugs, smuggling, killing, secret societies, becoming an Ah Long or his Side-Kick, get involved with gambling or other vices, etc. I am talking about small vices such as breaking minor laws and rules, like traffic offences, making public toilets dirtier than before we use them, driving like a maniac on the road, cutting queues, giving bribes or worse taking bribes, etc. If we commit even these minor offences, even if we are not put into jail, we are not responsible citizens.
- (TWO) Responsible to our families – give our loved ones our love, our time, our care, our money. Don’t be selfish and spend all our money on ourselves – e.g. splash it on a new car, a holiday abroad, gamble it away, or drink & be merry with fair weather friends. That is not being responsible to our families.
- (THREE) To our work/jobs – work hard and do not cheat. Your hard work will be noticed, so will your cheating.
- (FOUR) Finally we have to be responsible to nature - in what we do in our daily lives- (i) What we eat & how we eat – how much waste do we produce? Do we use plastic bags, Styrofoam/Polystyrene containers, etc. (ii) How much electricity we consume? Do we practice energy saving? In our own house Yes, elsewhere when we do not pay NO? (iii) Do we plan our trips to town or car-pool? Do we take public transportation? Do we bicycle or walk when our destination is nearby? (iv) Do we know how much water we use? Do we practice any water saving techniques? We can save a lot of water if all Penangites try to save water & reduce their water use by just 10 %. That means “Flush Once Less Per Day”- 1 person = 9 litres per day X 1.5 million penangites = 13.5 million litres per day or 405 million litres per month or 4,860 million litres per year. This amount is equivalent to 2 Air Itam Dams (2,600 million litres capacity)!
Regional Centre of Water Excellence in Penang: At this juncture it gives me great hope to suggest to YAB Tan Sri, YBs-YBs, Dato'-Dato, Datin-Datin, & all Penangites the proposed setting up of a Regional Centre of Water Excellence in Penang. This centre can be a collaborative effort between PBAPP Sdn Bhd (the water service provider who has the expertise, being named as one of the best water companies in Asia), Universiti Sains Malaysia (the second oldest and one of the top ranked universities in Asia who has the research expertise), NGOs fraternity in penang such as Water Watch Penang, Malaysian Nature Society Penang, WWF Malaysia, Consumers Assciation of Penang and other expert organisations who can all contribute to make this proposal a reality. With such a centre, Penang will become well known for its water expertise. We can then train people from all over the country as well as all over the world. Let us hope that YAB Tan Sri will give this idea some thought and make it happen.
Finally, I would like to repeat our hearfelt thanks to YAB Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, Penang Chief Minsiter for officiating today. We hope YAB will continue to do so in future years and continue to support us in our work to ensure sustainable water resources in Penang for the future. Thank you very much and have a great day. Sekian, terima kasih.