By Haris Ibrahim,
Local council elections were abolished so long ago that nobody is absolutely certain of the rationale for the same.
Seems the third vote was suspended in the 60′ s, the reasons then advanced being the konfrontasi with Indonesia and corruption amongst councillors.
Please do not ask me to explain why or how konfrontasi might then have been seen as a prudent enough reason to deny citizens their third vote.
The second reason, if true, is a joke. I am not going to waste your or my time labouring the point.
When the three Pakatan Rakyat parties formally endorsed the People’s Declaration just before the last GE, they knew full well that they were pledging to us to re-introduce local government elections.
Unless Ronnie Liu, Dr. Siti Maria and Chegubard were doing ‘Lu tolong gua, gua tolong lu’ ala Jibby on us.
I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and take it that they were being sincere.
For now, at least.
Post the 12th GE, we heard from several of the Pakatan Rakyat YBs that, for now, re-introducing local council elections might have to be put on the backburner as it would require federal legislation to undo the abolition of local council elections.
To counter this, I understand that several civil society proposals have been submitted to Pakatan Rakyat, which, whilst not coming anywhere close to local council elections, would enable the state governments to be guided by rate-payers preferences in the appointment of local councillors.
In other words, the appointment of local councillors would allow for a participatory process, by which rate-payers could communicate their preference from a pool of candidates previously nominated by the same rate-payers and, the state government could then proceed to appoint councillors from nominees who received the most number of ‘votes’.
And this would not require the BN federal government having to first pass any legislation.
Pakatan Rakyat would be able to deliver one of its pre-12th GE pledges to us.
In December, last year, at the press conference following the Pakatan Rakyat Convention in Shah Alam, Anwar had assured those present that they were serious about re-introducing local council elections and that they would be setting up some sort of committee or working group to look into the ‘nuts and bolts’ of this effort.
I had asked if civil society would be included in this committee or working group.
Anwar said we would.
Civil society now awaits the announcement of the formation of this committee or working group and an invitation to have respresentatives serve on the same.
Why Subang Jaya?
Well, the participatory proposal as outlined above envisages that this whole process take places in cyberspace.
This would necessitate that every, or nearly all, rate-payers, have access and do access the internet.
Subang Jaya probably comes closest to fitting the bill.
This is how it might work.
First step.
The state government sends out notices to all rate-payers to notify them of this effort and the state government’s dedicated e-mail addresses to facilitate the same, and request rate-payers to notify the state government of their e-mail address to which further communications in relation to this effort may be directed. The notice will further state that for those who do not wish to exercise their choice by e-mail, or who do not forward an e-mail address for this purpose, they will continue to be notified of the same by written notice and they may attend at the state government office to exercise their ‘vote’.
Second step.
State government invites rate-payers to nominate candidates for selection. A time-frame is set.
Third step.
State government checks on nominees to ensure none suffer any legal disqualification ( eg, bankrupt ).
Fourth step.
Full particulars sent out to rate-payers who are now to e-mail their ‘vote’ back to the state government.
Fifth step.
Independent scrutineers total up the ‘votes’ and announce the winners.
Too many flaws in the scheme?
I never said that this had been tweaked to perfection.
I understand that new councillors are due to be appointed in June or July this year. This round of appointments might be too close to try out something like this.
The Selangor state government could be persuaded to try this out for Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya if enough rate-payers drop them a note at aduan@selangor.gov.my to say you want to have a say in the appointment of your local councillors.
If you are minded to send an e-mail to the state government, please send a copy to thepeoplesparliament@gmail.com so that I can collate and keep track of the numbers who have written the state government.
Your call, Subang Jayans.
Local council elections were abolished so long ago that nobody is absolutely certain of the rationale for the same.
Seems the third vote was suspended in the 60′ s, the reasons then advanced being the konfrontasi with Indonesia and corruption amongst councillors.
Please do not ask me to explain why or how konfrontasi might then have been seen as a prudent enough reason to deny citizens their third vote.
The second reason, if true, is a joke. I am not going to waste your or my time labouring the point.
When the three Pakatan Rakyat parties formally endorsed the People’s Declaration just before the last GE, they knew full well that they were pledging to us to re-introduce local government elections.
Unless Ronnie Liu, Dr. Siti Maria and Chegubard were doing ‘Lu tolong gua, gua tolong lu’ ala Jibby on us.
I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and take it that they were being sincere.
For now, at least.
Post the 12th GE, we heard from several of the Pakatan Rakyat YBs that, for now, re-introducing local council elections might have to be put on the backburner as it would require federal legislation to undo the abolition of local council elections.
To counter this, I understand that several civil society proposals have been submitted to Pakatan Rakyat, which, whilst not coming anywhere close to local council elections, would enable the state governments to be guided by rate-payers preferences in the appointment of local councillors.
In other words, the appointment of local councillors would allow for a participatory process, by which rate-payers could communicate their preference from a pool of candidates previously nominated by the same rate-payers and, the state government could then proceed to appoint councillors from nominees who received the most number of ‘votes’.
And this would not require the BN federal government having to first pass any legislation.
Pakatan Rakyat would be able to deliver one of its pre-12th GE pledges to us.
In December, last year, at the press conference following the Pakatan Rakyat Convention in Shah Alam, Anwar had assured those present that they were serious about re-introducing local council elections and that they would be setting up some sort of committee or working group to look into the ‘nuts and bolts’ of this effort.
I had asked if civil society would be included in this committee or working group.
Anwar said we would.
Civil society now awaits the announcement of the formation of this committee or working group and an invitation to have respresentatives serve on the same.
Why Subang Jaya?
Well, the participatory proposal as outlined above envisages that this whole process take places in cyberspace.
This would necessitate that every, or nearly all, rate-payers, have access and do access the internet.
Subang Jaya probably comes closest to fitting the bill.
This is how it might work.
First step.
The state government sends out notices to all rate-payers to notify them of this effort and the state government’s dedicated e-mail addresses to facilitate the same, and request rate-payers to notify the state government of their e-mail address to which further communications in relation to this effort may be directed. The notice will further state that for those who do not wish to exercise their choice by e-mail, or who do not forward an e-mail address for this purpose, they will continue to be notified of the same by written notice and they may attend at the state government office to exercise their ‘vote’.
Second step.
State government invites rate-payers to nominate candidates for selection. A time-frame is set.
Third step.
State government checks on nominees to ensure none suffer any legal disqualification ( eg, bankrupt ).
Fourth step.
Full particulars sent out to rate-payers who are now to e-mail their ‘vote’ back to the state government.
Fifth step.
Independent scrutineers total up the ‘votes’ and announce the winners.
Too many flaws in the scheme?
I never said that this had been tweaked to perfection.
I understand that new councillors are due to be appointed in June or July this year. This round of appointments might be too close to try out something like this.
The Selangor state government could be persuaded to try this out for Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya if enough rate-payers drop them a note at aduan@selangor.gov.my to say you want to have a say in the appointment of your local councillors.
If you are minded to send an e-mail to the state government, please send a copy to thepeoplesparliament@gmail.com so that I can collate and keep track of the numbers who have written the state government.
Your call, Subang Jayans.
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