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Media Statement by Lau Weng San in Petaling Jaya on Sunday, 19th October 2008:  Motion to revive local government election The Selangor State Legislative Assembly will meet for five days starting from tomorrow and this is the second meeting after the 8th March political tsunami. This meeting could be extended until next week, marking an all new record in the State Legislative Assembly which was slammed to be a rubber-stamp assembly for meeting no more than five days a year As for this meeting, I will table a motion under Standing Order 26(1). The motion is as follow: “That the House resolves to urge the State Government to take steps to revive election for all local governments in Selangor.” (“Bahawa Dewan yang mulia ini menggesa Kerajaan Negeri mengambil langkah memulihkan pilihanraya untuk semua kerajaan tempatan di Negeri Selangor.”) This motion is also the first motion to revive local government election tabled by Pakatan Rakyat elected representatives after the 8th March political tsunami, which is highly possible to be adopted by the House. Therefore, the State Government has to look into various means to revive local government elections in Selangor. This is a proof that Pakatan Rakyat elected representatives have not forgotten our election pledge as the motion marks our undivided determination to bring back local elections in Selangor. However, the adoption of this motion is just the very first step and it will be more challenging for the State Government to revive the third vote for the people under current legal framework. I also urge all BN ADUNs to participate in this debate particularly and do not play truant just like how they did last time when the House adopted my motion to condemn the continuous detention of YB M. Manoharan under ISA. In fact, it is totally harmless for BN to support this motion as reviving local election will only give more chances to BN to send their representatives into local councils. Besides that, I have submitted ten questions each for oral and written replies. The first ten questions requesting oral replies cover the following issues: training provided by Biro Tatanegara (BTN) for state government civil servants, Exco official residence, road-digging restriction for utility companies, proposed survey conducted on low cost housing residents, reduction of assessment for welfare bodies, maintenance cost for official vehicles for high ranking state government officers, “land-grab” problems in Bandar Utama, Freedom of Information Enactment for State government and the lack of cemeteries in Selangor. Another ten questions were also tabled for written replies. These questions are the problem of low reading culture, pollutions, management of land offices, properties owned by the State Government in Kuala Lumpur, the progress of Petaling Jaya Local Draft Plan 2, privatization of car parks management by local government, foreign investment, development of tourism industry in Selangor, anti corruption program in Selangor and legalization of illegal factories in Selangor. * Lau Weng San, DAP Selangor Secretary & ADUN for Kampung Tunku