Letter to Editor « SJ Echo

Thursday, 2 July 2009

Letter to Editor

Dear YB Hannah,
Thank you for organising the debate on Local Council elections (LCE). I believe the debate met its objectives as I have changed my views on LCE after hearing the points from both sides from a believer to a non believer. The reason being given by government is to let the rakyat vote in the councilors.
This reasoning sounds good on paper but is flawed in practice as we all know that money can buy anything and given the opportunity, opportunistic politicians will buy councilors too ie have them elected in. The risk will always be there if not fixed systemically.
Scenerio 1 - ADUN is Pakatan Rakyat(PR) and all councilors are PR. There is a good chance for collusion and abuse and towing of state driven decisions which could be contrary to rakyats needs will be implemented.
Scenerio 2 - ADUN is PR and majority of councillors are from BN. No work will get done as they will be constantly bickering.

My proposal is as below.
YDP's position should be elected - As this is a most important position in a local council it should not be subservient to any party. There is a possibility of party affiliations or sympathies but this can be quickly highlighted during campaigning and campaign debates. This post should be for 5 years and not coincide with the general elections. This post should be similar to the head of private corporations and he/she is held accountable for the day to day running of the council. He/she is accountable only to the rakyat. The salary for this position should also be in line with the corporate image.
Councilors should be appointed- A list of eligible organizations (RA's, religious body's, NGO etc) nominate candidates for councilors position. A list of 5 are shortlisted based on their CV and bio-data by an independent group made up members from the eligible organizations (this should be a voting process within the council members). In this way the accountability, corruption and collusion issues will be addressed. Councilors should not be anybody who hold any post in any political party (this should disqualify them immediately) and this is to allow the check and balance. The allowance for Councilors should be at least RM5,000 in order to compensate them for time and loss of other income.
ADUN’s role in all this - The ADUN serves as a link between the rakyat and the YDP to ensure state level strategies are implemented and the rakyats agenda is ensured at the same time. The ADUN should automatically be a councilor and subject to the same SOPs. This will allow ADUN to attend to strategies and long term planning.
JKP Chairman - should be the candidate for the councilor’s post who has the second highest vote. This will provide an additional check and balance and the interest of the rakyat will be protected. A councilor should not be a JKP chairman.
I believe the above model has the best chance for success that will meet the needs and aspirations for the rakyat. Please let me know if any clarification is needed.
If you plan to form a think tank group I would be happy to contribute.

Best Regards
AS Gill