PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang opposed the third vote, saying it would drive a deeper wedge between ethnic groups and widen the urban-rural divide, meanwhile DAP and PKR have both listed the third vote as part of their manifesto in 2013. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, January 23, 2015.Those who oppose local government elections are against democracy, lawyer and former Petaling Jaya city councillor Derek Fernandez said, adding that refusal to restore the third vote was linked to party patronage, power and control – the cost of which the rakyat ended up paying for."In the end, the parties in power want to totally control local governments which is seen as a valuable tool to promote individual interest of party members, or their patrons, and to provide rewards to members for party support," he told The Malaysian Insider.Fernandez, whose specialty is local government law, said local councils were actually a third-tier government that exercised huge powers over the people and had the authority to levy taxes on ratepayers.As such, elections for their office bearers were necessary to keep local councils transparent and accountable to the public."However, the present structure purports to treat them as departments or agencies of the Federal government like in the case of City Hall and state governments, respectively, in the case of other local governments," he added."(To have credibility and accountability,) nothing less than local government elections is required, not only for City Hall, but all local governments," the lawyer said.The topic of local government elections is in the news again as opposition allies PAS and DAP spar over the matter, with DAP reviving its call for the third vote to be restored after it was abolished in 1976.The Islamist PAS, however, has long been against local council elections. Its president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang today said the third vote would drive a deeper wedge between ethnic groups and widen the urban-rural divide, as those who stood to benefit more were non-Malays who mostly lived in urban areas.Hadi even evoked the specter of the May 13, 1969 race riots in rejecting the DAP's call for local council elections.In 2008, only DAP and PKR listed bringing back the third vote as a promise in their election manifestos for the general election held that year.DAP's strength has long been in urban seats, while the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition as whole performed better in urban areas, winning 87% of urban seats compared to the Barisan Nasional's 13% in the 2013 general elections.Meanwhile, DAP organising secretary Anthony Loke said he was shocked that Hadi would turn the issue into a racial matter, when the issue at stake was democracy.Loke also said Hadi was wrong in saying that only urban dwellers would benefit from local council elections. Neither was it true that urban areas today were populated by the Chinese alone."It is not true to say that urban areas are dominated by one race only. It is not like before, there are many races and not just the Chinese. There are some parts of cities where Malays are the majority," Loke told The Malaysian Insider."It is not logical to say that in local council election, the Chinese will dominate in the local council. We want the right to vote to be returned to the ratepayers and the people," he added.Reacting to Hadi, Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower) executive director Maria Chin Abdullah said ratepayers must be given the right to elect who should represent them."Such democratic election in the third tier of the government is important to express the will of the people," she said.Without them, a fundamental principle of democracy that there should be “no taxation without representation" was ignored.She said by appointing local councillors, state governments were effectively saying “we know what is best for you, and we will make the choices for you".Local government elections were held in major towns until it was suspended in 1965, and abolished in 1976.Maria, whose association Empower is among 47 non-governmental organisations that make the Coalition for Good Governance, said civil society had also been pushing for the third vote to be reintroduced."There is no logic in doing away with election of local councillors to manage local issues when there are polls to elect state and Federal governments," Maria said, adding that Hadi missed the point by raising the possibility of racial tension.She seconded Fernandez and agreed that appointments and positions in the local council were closely tied to the parties in power and were often meant to serve as part of the patronage mechanism.She also said appointed councillors were not accountable to the people for the money spent.There are 144 local councils in Malaysia with a combined expenditure of more than RM13 billion.Maria added that there was a lack of transparency in how council matters were discussed and decided upon.Last week, Penang Institute fellow Dr Wong Chin Huat told a forum on the topic that there was no difference between Putrajaya and the mafia as far as Kuala Lumpur’s ratepayers were concerned, since taxes were being paid without representation."Kuala Lumpur does not have state elections. The City Hall Mayor is appointed by the federal government in Putrajaya."Ratepayers are not represented. They are merely paying taxes in return for services. This is akin to the mafia, which collected money in return for services," Wong had said at a forum titled “Why the need for elections in Kuala Lumpur?"Wong said the current administration ran Kuala Lumpur like its own "fiefdom", never consulting the residents for their thoughts, opinions or feedback."There is no accountability, although Kuala Lumpur has the third largest budget allocation behind Sabah and Sarawak," Wong had said. – January 23, 2015.
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น