What a shame indeed! It should have been a major breakthrough for Malaysia giving special meaning to the 50th Merdeka anniversary but it has turned out to be an ignominous setback.

It would have been the first occasions all religions in Malaysia coming together in recent times to unite on common ground and speak on the human rights to water.

Even more significant, this one-day event entitled “United for Water: Religions Speak on the Rights to Water” is to be held at the Conference Centre of the National Mosque, Kuala Lumpur tomorrow, to be attended by some 200 people representing NGOs, civil society, religious groups and residents’ associations.

This program to bring together various religions in Malaysia to deliberate religious views on the human rights to water, with specific reference to the United Nations’ General Comment No. 15, seeks also to raise awareness among Malaysians to conserve water and respect and protect the human rights to water as a key responsibility.

But it was not to be. Although the National Mosque authorities were ever-ready to make available their Conference Centre for the path-breaking event, the police had scuttled the programme on the ground that there could be a protest demonstration.

The programme has the support from all religious groups as evident from the list of the participating organizations which include:

Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM)
Archdiocesan Office for Human Development (AOHD)
Buddhist Missionary Society of Malaysia (BMSM)
Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM)
Malaysia Hindu Sangam (MHS)
Malaysian Gurdwara Council (MGC)
Centre for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC)
Group of Concerned Citizens (GCC)
Monitoring Sustainability of Globalisation (MSG)
Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC)

The organizers had been working for a month to make a success of this path-blazing inter-faith programme on the human rights to water.

On Tuesday, representatives from the organizing committee paid a courtesy call to the National Mosque to thank the mosque officials for allowing their venue to be used for the event. The mosque officials said they looked forward to the use of mosque conference centre for such functions.

On Wednesday, however, National Mosque officials were told by the police that it had received information that there could be protest or demonstration which was complete news to the participating organizations, including ABIM.

Yesterday, representatives of the organizing committee who met with the Special Branch of Dang Wangi Police district to ask for a police permit were told that there would be no problem of approval.

This morning, the police changed its mind because of rumours that there could be a protest or demonstration if the event is held at the National Mosque.

The “United for Water: Religions Speak on the Rights to Water” event will now be held at the NUBE House, Brickfields (next to Petronas) according to the scheduled hours.

If the Police are capable of seeing the big national picture, it should have ensured that the programme at the National Mosque conference centre is held successfully.

Instead, the Police have allowed irresponsible and mischievous elements to scuttle the programme at the National Mosque.

Is the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also the Internal Security Minister, aware of what is happening under his watch?

It would appear that even water has become a national security problem!

The Sun carried an article by Charles Santiago, a key organizer, on the theme of the inter-faith seminar:

Religions guard the basic right to water
Charles Santiago
Wed, 01 Aug 2007

The religious community and human rights fraternity have found a common cause: promoting and protecting people’s right to water as stipulated in the United Nations General Comment No. 15 on the Right to Water.

These groups argue that water is God’s gift to all, to be managed efficiently, conserved and provisioned as a human right.

Unfortunately, only the rich have access to a clean water supply while the poor must struggle for it or be constantly confronted with disconnections, high tariffs and unclean water supply. A lack of access to clean drinking water can result in a health crisis.

For these groups, water should not be turned into a commodity for profits.

Water has a central place in the practices and beliefs of many religions of the world. It is considered sacred as a source of life and a purifying agent in many religions. Water is central to the religious practices of all indigenous people.

In an environment where water is a commodity, where vulnerable communities are denied access to water including high levels of disconnections, right to water is rapidly becoming a right to life issue.

For this reason, religions and human rights communities are focusing their attention on the notion that access to clean water is a basic human right.

Islam ascribes the most sacred qualities to water as a life-giving, sustaining and purifying resource. It attaches the principle of equity to water distribution and warns human beings against its unfair distribution. In fact, Islam recognises water as a vital resource, one in which all people have the right to a fair share, which effectively makes water a community resource to which all, rich or poor, have a right.

The Vatican notes that the respect for life and the dignity of the human person must be the ultimate guiding norm for all development policy, including environmental policy. The human person must be the central point of convergence of all issues pertaining to development, the environment and water. The centrality of the human person must thus be foremost in any consideration of the issues of water.

The first priority of every country and the international community for sustainable water policy should be to provide access to safe water to those who are deprived of such access.

The Orang Asli treat water and rivers as an essential component of their spiritual and material perception of the world as one of the elements in the eco-spiritual domain that has ruai (soul). For them water is soul and a sacred life force.

Hinduism believes that the provisioning of water for sustenance is recognised as a grace of God. In prayers God is thanked for His benevolence for creating and providing water. In fact, the right to water is recognised as an inalienable divine right of people. Thus, management of water in Hinduism is perceived as welfare.

Furthermore, in Hinduism no individual or group can claim ownership of God’s provisions and it is considered a bad karma or a sin to deny people access to water.

In 2002 the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, – confronted with unequal distribution of water and widespread denial of the right to water in the developing and developed world – adopted the General Comment No 15.

It noted that: “the right to water clearly falls within the category of guarantees essential for securing an adequate standard of living, particularly since it is one of the most fundamental conditions for survival.”

The Comment unambiguously states that access to water is a human right and a public commodity fundamental to life and health. In fact, the realisation of the right to water is essential to the realisation of all other rights.

Furthermore, governments have a responsibility to progressively realise, without discrimination, the right to water. Specifically, the human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient, affordable, physically accessible, safe and acceptable water for personal and domestic uses.

The state has an obligation to respect, protect, and fulfil this right.