Memorandum to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government: Restore Local Government Election

Memorandum by the Selangor Democratic Action Party

to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government

16^th June 2003

Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting

Minister of Housing and Local Government

Level 4 & 5, Block K

Pusat Bandar Damansara

Datuk Seri,

Call on the Federal Government to Restore Local Government Election and Eliminate Abuses of Power and Corruption in Local Councils

The widely publicized saga of the former enforcement chief of the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) Capt (Rtd) Abdul Kudus Ahmad, now sacked, accepting bribes and making a false declaration of his financial status has put local councils under the public spotlight and raised many pertinent questions with respect to the transparency and accountability of local councils and to what extent they can effectively serve the interest of ratepayers.

While credit should be given to local councils that are doing their level best to provide an acceptable level of service to the public, many have earned the wrath of ratepayers for their lacklustre and incompetent performance. For far too long, ratepayers have had to live with poor quality of service by many local councils as exemplified by never-ending problems of potholes, clogged drains, poor maintenance of parks and green lungs, traffic congestion, irregular collection of garbage and slow or lack of response to complaints.

The insensitivity shown by certain local authorities such as the ban on sale of pork in open-air markets by the Kajang Municipal Council and the unlawful moral policing by the Ipoh Municipality and the Kuala Lumpur City Council in arresting couples for holding hands in public have put local councils under bad light. Allegations of graft involving local council officers have further tarnished the image of local councils.

We believe the root cause of the many problems afflicting our local councils is the absence of local council election. Since the suspension of local council election on March 1, 1965 on the ground of the Indonesian Confrontation, no effort has been taken to restore the election despite the end of the crisis in the latter part of 1966.

By denying the people the right to elect the local government of their choice, the Federal government has effectively denied them the fundamental right to participatory democracy at the most basic level.

Ultimately, the present system of appointment to local council positions can never eradicate the problem of corruption, malpractice and lack of transparency in local councils simply because the appointed members of the local council are not elected by ratepayers and therefore have no incentive and are not duty-bound to be fully accountable to the public.

We therefore urge the Federal Government to stop the rot in our local councils by restoring local government election and eliminating abuses of power and corruption in local councils in line with the aspiration of the people and to pave the way for the restoration of genuine grassroots participatory democracy.

Ean Yong Hian Wah

State Secretary

Selangor Democratic Action Party