Privatization of water on the doorstep

Privatization of water on the doorstep

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite widespread public criticism and opposition to the water
resource bill, legislators went ahead with the endorsement of the
controversial draft on Thursday.

With the endorsement, water will effectively cease to be a
social commodity as the bill transforms water into a commercial
good, with the have-nots possibly in for a bleak future of having
their rights to clean and affordable water denied, according to
some critics.

A.M. Fatwa, a legislator from the National Mandate Party (PAN)
who chaired the House plenary meeting that endorsed the draft,
attempted to appease critics by saying that the bill could always
be amended.

"We have a Constitutional Court to go to and we can always
amend the bill; there is nothing set in stone," said Fatwa, a
member of the Reform faction, one of two small factions that
called for a delay in the endorsement.

The public can contest the validity of laws through the newly
formed Constitutional Court, whose credibility has not been
tested.

As Fatwa hammered his gavel to mark the bill's endorsement,
dozens of activists staged a rally outside the House compound in
protest.

Dozens of activists also protested against the bill in front
of North Sumatra legislature in Medan.

Earlier, Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul
Ulama (NU), said that the bill did not protect the people's
rights to safe and affordable water.

Turning deaf ears to the public's voice, eight of nine
factions in the House, including President Megawati
Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)
and House Speaker Akbar Tandjung's Golkar Party, gave unreserved
support to the bill's endorsement.

Only a few members of the Reform faction opposed the bill by
walking out of the plenary meeting.

The bill will automatically take effect in 30 days after its
endorsement, with or without the signature of the president.

Critics have opposed the draft, saying it favored capitalists
over the poor by treating water as a commercial commodity, paving
the way for privatization and higher costs.

Article 4, for example, states that water has social,
environmental and economic functions that have not been managed
and materialized harmoniously.

Experts have suggested that the term "economic function" would
pave the way for privatization and commercialization of the water
sector.

Article 9(1) promotes water commercialization with approval
from either the central government or regional administrations.

The bill was initiated under pressure by the World Bank
through its US$300 million Water Sector Adjustment Loan
commitment in 1999.

It is also said to protect the private sector as it shifts
much of the risk to the government.

Dozens of drinking water companies --including several
foreign-owned firms -- have occupied a number of springs to
produce bottled water in the country. The drinking water business
takes 4.1 billion cubic meters of water in 2001.

Critics have warned that the government would not be able to
control the growth of commercialization in the water sector as
the law authorizes either the central government or regional
administrations to issue permits to individuals or corporations
to commercialize water resources.

"The law keeps on saying that commercialization needs public
consultation, but it fails to name who the public is or what
agency responsible for that," Nila Ardhiani of the Coalition for
People's Access to Water.