I live in Selangor state, where people here enjoy free water for the first 20 cubic meters. My monthly water bills have been reading negative (yes, negative) RM21 because I had continued to pay about RM7 every month for three months, without realizing that when the opposition parties gained control of Selangor, they had proclaimed free water for all Selangor citizens. In other words, I had overpaid my (free) water for three months. Silly me.

I have also seen billboards around, setup by the opposition parties, that essentially screamed, “Water should be free because water is our right”.

While I agree that water is our right, I am uncomfortable with the idea that water should thus be free (even if it is free up to 20 cubic meters). The problem when water is given free or heavily subsidized is it makes people wasteful in water use and oblivious to the scarcity and importance of water.

No one would disagree that water is absolutely crucial to life. A person may survive for weeks (and even months) without food. But in extreme conditions such as being locked inside a fully enclosed car parked under the sun can kill a child in a few hours due to severe dehydration.