RESTORING elections for local council positions is one of the most effective ways to curb corruption and promote transparency at hyperlocal areas.
“Local council polls are a must. Over decades, we have a situation where mayor and councilors work without proper oversight from the public.
“That is why we have cases of underperforming councilors and mayors retained their posts despite under-performing in their respective roles,” Parti Sosialis Malaysia central committee member Sharan Raj told FocusM.
On Jan 20, electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 said the belief that non-Malays will dominate local councils should the third vote is restored was false.
In a research report, entitled Reintroduction of Local Government Elections in Malaysia, Bersih 2.0 said that many Malays are a majority in cities and other urban areas.
“Most of the councils in the Peninsula are actually dominated by Malays,” its author Danesh Prakash Chacko was reported saying.
Research for Social Advancement (Refsa) adviser Wan Hamidi Hamid lauded Bersih’s report, saying local council election should start with the nation’s capital, Kuala Lumpur.
“Why do we need this very important change? Simple. With disastrous urban planning outcome caused by interventions by former Federal Territories Minister Tengku (Datuk Seri) Adnan Tengku Mansor who has been convicted for corruption, it is high time we review the existence of the Federal Territory Ministry.
“Plus, the ministry is not directly accountable to the people of Kuala Lumpur. The real power in charge of Kuala Lumpur is Putrajaya,” Wan Hamidi was reported saying.
Touching on the Federal Territories Ministry, Sharan said the ministry had long been plagued with corruption, politicking and inefficiency due to lack of oversight, thus affecting Kuala Lumpur and Labuan.
The problem, Sharan opined, was caused by the vast and unilateral powers held by whoever helms the ministry at the point of time.
“The classic case of how such powers corrupt the office-bearer is Tengku Adnan. He was convicted of graft for dishing out a piece of land in Kuala Lumpur to a developer in exchange for a political donation.
“Such unfettered powers allow graft to flourish because there is no check and balance,” he pointed out.
On that note, Sharan urged the Government to return Kuala Lumpur to Selangor, while Labuan is handed back to Sabah so that both state governments can form various initiatives to streamline development in the areas.
Streamlining welfare programme
“Kuala Lumpur is in the middle of Selangor but there are a lot of problems in terms of coming up with a cohesive policy as they come under different management.
“By returning Kuala Lumpur to Selangor, the state government can streamline a lot of development plans in terms of transportation, irrigation, drainage and public housing issues.
“Selangor’s welfare programmes could also be expanded to Kuala Lumpur, thus improving lives of residents in the Federal capital. As such, the prosperity of the central region will be more equitably felt,” the PSM leader added.
With Selangor in charge of Kuala Lumpur, Sharan said the latter can be re-organised into multiple new local councils such as Damansara, Wangsa Maju, Kepong and Cheras.
“Kuala Lumpur residents will then have their own state legislative representatives and local councilors, giving them second and third-layer governance and democratic representation,” he noted.
On Labuan, Sharan said the Federal Territories Ministry’s management of the island has been a bane to Sabahans, saying it has been used to divert state’s petroleum revenue into Putrajaya’s hands.
“The Government has for decades used Labuan to divert Sabah’s natural resource taxes into Putrajaya’s hands by forcing the state’s petroleum operations to be headquartered in Labuan.
“Sabah’s youth and entrepreneurs had been deprived of jobs and business opportunities to provide lucrative contracts to cronies,” he said.
On arguments that Labuan was used as an offshore financial centre, Sharan said it was not the case.
“Labuan, as an offshore financial centre, isn’t yielding any substantial result despite three-and-a-half decades of Government incentives and subsidies.
“The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has listed Labuan as underperformer by international standards. Instead, the island has become more of a haven to deprive lawful taxes and divert Sabah’s petroleum wealth,” he remarked.
On local council posts, Sharan said that his party is of the opinion that two-thirds of a council’s posts should be determined by the electorate within the same election cycle of five years.
“Another one-third of the seats should be on appointment basis but reserved for the underserved communities such as the physically-challenged, the Orang Asli, village leaders and those living at the People’s Housing Programme (PPR),” he stated.
For the record, Kuala Lumpur used to be part of Selangor until Second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak placed it under Federal Government’s purview, a few years after the infamous May 13 incident.
The Sabah state government ceded Labuan to the Federal Government in 1984 during the premiership of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. – Feb 1, 2021.
