While Penang had the right to draw water from Sungai Muda within its territory, he said, the river flowed from the Ulu Muda forest in Kedah, which had to be preserved and spared from logging, thus depriving Kedah of much-needed revenue.

Penang taps water from the river in Kepala Batas, processes it in Butterworth, and supplies it to 80% of its 1.78 million population. The state has refused to accede to demands to pay up after repeated demands from the Kedah menteri besar.

“I have met the chief minister (Chow Kon Yeow) and said that morally, Kedah should be paid in view of its sacrifice in preserving thousands of hectares of forest reserve to ensure water catchments are not ruined,” Tuan Ibrahim told reporters in Sik, near here. “Kedah should be given a token payment.”

He said Chow had refused to commit any payment during the two occasions they met.

PAS to field more women in GE15

Separately, the PAS deputy president said the party planned to field more women in the coming general election (GE15), noting that about half of the voters were women.

He also said PAS was looking to placing women in local government positions in states that it governed.

Earlier, PAS Women’s wing chief Nuridah Salleh said the party fielded 39 women in the last general election, but wanted at least 30% of PAS’ candidates in GE15 to be women.