It is regrettable that Federal Territories (FT) PAS Youth had recently played up extreme racial sentiments[1] following a proposal by Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur DAP Chairman, Tan Kok Wai, to amend the Federal Capital Act 1960 to allow for the appointment of council members in Kuala Lumpur, as practiced by other local authorities nationwide.
It seems that DPPWP is relentless in depriving the people of the capital city the right to their own local representation. For context, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) only has an advisory board and does not have appointed councillors. Kuala Lumpur (KL) also lacks “state-level” representation, such as State Assemblypersons like in other states.
This complicates service delivery and complaint management for constituencies in KL, as it relies solely on 11 Members of Parliament to serve the city’s 1.98 million population. In comparison, other states with significantly lower populations such as Perlis (284,000), Melaka (998,000), Negeri Sembilan (1.19 million), and Terengganu (1.14 million), have their own council members and state representatives.
Given this data, evidently, DPPWP is not at all not concerned about the needs of KL residents but is more interested in playing politics. Their statement also raised an important question that must be answered. Since they are so adamantly opposed to the concept of local council elections, would DPPWP support the appointment of council members in the future?
[1] https://harakahdaily.net/index.php/2024/10/18/pilihan-raya-pbt-langkah-bahaya-dap-untuk-dominasi-bandar/
