SINGAPORE: In his first social media post for 2025, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, brought up yet again the water agreement issue between Singapore and Malaysia, which was formalized in 1962 and is valid until 2061.
His Jan 2 Facebook post, which has received a lot of comments and shares, carries the heading “SUBSIDISING SINGAPORE.”
The water agreement between the two countries allows Singapore to get 250 million gallons of water daily from the Johor River at 3 sen per 1,000 gallons. Singapore sells treated water back to Johor at 50 sen per thousand gallons.
Read related: The Water Chronicles — A Timeline of the Singapore-Malaysia Water Issue
Malaysia had an opportunity to review the price of raw and treated water when the pact reached its 25-year mark in 1986 and 1987, but the country’s leaders declined to do so.
It appears, however, that for Dr Mahathir, who brings the matter up from time to time, the issue is still alive and kicking. He claimed in his post that Singapore’s yearly profit from the agreement is over 3 billion RM, though he did not provide a source for this figure.
“Since Malaysia has stopped negotiating for an increase of the sale price of raw water we are effectively subsidising Singapore with the stated amount per year,” he added.
Malaysian authorities, however, do not appear to share his view.
Early last month, Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir, the country’s Deputy Energy Transition and Water Transformation Minister, told Parliament:
“Following discussions in October 2024 with the Johor chief minister and the ministry, it was decided that the review of raw water rates does not need to be negotiated at this time.”
MP for Pasir Gudang Hassan Abdul Karim had asked if the Malaysian government would take into consideration a review of the terms of the 1962 Johor River Water Agreement.
Malaysia has taken steps to decrease its reliance on Singapore for treated water, including the construction of riverbank water reservoirs in the Johor River and water treatment plants.
Mr Akmal, however, acknowledged that because of the growth of industries such as data centres and semiconductors may make achieving zero dependencies on Singapore for treated water by 2023 somewhat of a challenge.
Although some commenters on his post seemed to agree with Dr Mahathir, others were less inclined to do so. Some commented that his post was not constructive, while others asked him what he had done to resolve the issue of “subsidising” in the 22 years he had been in power. /TISG