Development and the culture of "over-consumption": the freshwater crisis in Malaysia and the problem of privatization

Abstract

The universal concept of development includes more than just the mere changes in economic indicators, such as the increase in gross national product (GNP), the reduction in the percentage of poverty or an increase in currency value with respect to other currencies, thus increasing purchasing power. Development should also include the concepts of justice, equality, individual freedom and social welfare. This paper focuses on justice and individual freedom as key indicators of development, and how these have ironically threatened the availability of water resources in Malaysia. Thus, the presence of a freshwater crisis shows that the positive development indicators of justice and individual freedom have back-fired and actually resulted in injustice and a reduced freedom of consumption. Malaysia's freshwater crisis affects all strata of society. Corporatization and privatization have been suggested as solutions to the crisis, but these, too, will lead to unequal distribution and availability of freshwater in the country. Also, corpo~atization and privatization, lauded as important indicators of economic development in modern society, will strip citizens of the basic right to a commodity that is essential for human survival. Just as air, also essential for human survival, has not been packaged and marketed as a consumer item, access to potable freshwater must be easily available, at minimum cost. This paper is an attempt to analyze the negative aspects of consumerism in the water industry, and how the privatization of freshwater resources will perpetuate and not solve the freshwater crisis in Malaysia.