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Ten makes history in new village election |
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Friday, 02 January 2009 08:03am |
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©The Sun (Used by permission) IPOH (Jan 1, 2009) : PKR Gunung Rapat branch chief Ten Chong Yong created history today by becoming the first elected new village headman in the country.
Ten, 66, a former businessman, received 345 votes in the five-cornered fight for the Gunung Rapat New Village chief's post. He beat his nearest rival by 134 votes.
The election, held at Dewan Tokong Fook Tat Chee in Gunung Rapat, was attended by 763 villagers. There are an estimated 2,000 registered voters in the village.
The event was observed by representatives from five non-governmental organisations, including Suaram executive director Yap Swee Seng and Writer Alliance for Media Independence chairman Wong Chin Huat.
Yap said the election was carried out "democratically in accordance with the election laws".
He said the historic village chief election is the first step taken by PKR to restart the trend of electing village chiefs by the residents, which had been stopped by the Barisan National (BN) federal government since the 1960s.
He urged both the Pakatan Raykat state governments and BN federal government to implement this move by empowering the public to elect their representatives at all stages of the local government. This will correct the present imbalance and strengthen the administration of local government for the benefit of rate-payers.
Ten said his election will enable him to address the grouses of the villagers which have been neglected for the past 50 years.
The success of today's election, held without any untoward incident, will likely see their introduction in the other new villages of Simpang Pulai, Ampung Baru, Lawan Kuda and Kopisan Baru, which are under PKR control.
PKR vice-president Dr Lee Boon Chye said: “We will give our report on this historic event to the state government for finetuning. The election of the Gunung Rapat new village chief may be used as a role model for the rest of the 134 new villages in the state.
“I had discussions with Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin on this two days ago and he fully supports our move for the election of the village chief.”
Lee rubbished media reports that PKR went against the state government's stand for appointed representatives by holding the election.
“We are just carrying out the wishes of the villagers in holding the election. A recent NTV7 public survey found that 90% of the residents support the election system instead of the appointment system," he said.
“Anyway, the final say in appointing the village head lies with the government. We are positive that the people’s choice will have the support of the state government..”
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