(Parliament, Tuesday): Government should restore Local Government Election which was suspended sine die since 1965.

Datuk Kaveas in the 52^nd Convention of People’s Progressive Party had expressed disappointment on the performance and bureaucracy of 146 Local Governments all over the country and claimed that the cure is to have local government election.

We, Democratic Action Party, knew long ago about the inefficiency and bureaucracy of the local government and that the only cure to rectify such illness is to have regular local government elections so that the local governments are subject to public scrutiny and assessment now and again.

That is why we have, early this year, launched the year-long campaign to restore the local government election which was suspended sine die since 1965 on the ground of the Confrontation with Indonesia.  Despite the promise by our former Prime Minister that local government election will be restored after the Confrontation and notwithstanding that the Confrontation was over for decades, the Barisan Nasional government still refused to restore the local government election.

Under the present system where councilors and Board members to the local government were appointed by various Barisan Nasional component parties, the selection and appointment of these councilors are not based on competency for the job but more on favoritism and loyalty to Barisan Nasional.  The appointment of councilors has become a form of political reward for supporting Barisan Nasional.  A person may be totally unsuitable for the job of a councilor but yet is appointed for such political reason.

The inefficiency of local governments have also hampered business development as the local governments are the authorities entrusted to regulate many business activities, issuance of licences and approval of building plans and development projects and city or town planning.  Not only are the local governments inefficient, but they are also reported to be one of the most corrupt government departments. 

The only way to stop such bureaucracy, inefficiency and corruption is to have local government elections regularly so that all such dirty linen can be exposed and not be swept under the carpet.  We call on People’s Progressive Party to support our Restore Local Government Election campaign.  We also call on the Prime Minister to serious consider restoring the local government election if he is serious in his call to have a more transparent and clean administration.