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©The Sun (Used by permission)
by Llew-Ann Phang

KUALA LUMPUR: There is no need for local council elections to promote accountability if the Local Government Act 1976 were to be observed meticulously.

This was the view of two speakers – Datuk Seri Lim Chong Keat and R. Nadeswaran – at the critical thinking series held by the National Young Lawyers’ Committee of the Bar Council and Youth for Change last Wednesday.

The talk on “Planning Law – Corruption, Accountability and Transparency in Local City Councils” was the first of four weekly sessions, which are part of the series’ theme on “Rethinking Malaysia in Commemoration of 50 Years of Independence”.

Lim, the Penang Ratepayers Association’s former president and a retired architect and urban planner, said, “The Act can actually be made to work. There is no sense in calling for elections. However, the fundamental question is, in the Act, where are political parties ever mentioned?”

He also questioned whether the political appointment of councillors contradicted the law, adding that the Act should be de-politicised, as it was meant to be.

Lim also said local authorities lacked professional human resources. “One of the structural problems in the country is when it comes to appointing people in local authorities, in most cases, if not all, many do not have the relevant experience. If we fail to do this, then we are going to be far from becoming a developed country,” he told the forum attended by about 100 people.

theSun deputy editor (special reporting) Nadeswaran concurred that the Act can work “only if the powers that be have the will and determination to follow every law stringently”.

“I agree that elections are not the answer to all the woes afflicting local councils but it is important to have people with enough commitment, dedication and honesty to run them,” he said.

“Nobody wants to stop errant councillors and the same people are appointed, sometimes forming a family dynasty,” he said, citing Port Klang assemblyman and former Klang municipal councillor Datuk Zakaria Md Deros as an example.

Zakaria was building a house in Klang without the required local council approval. Following news reports on his misconduct, the public outcry and pressure from various parties for him to step down last November, he turned down any reappointment to the council when his term ended.

Although he was not reappointed, his son Zainuri and daughter-in-law Roselinda Abdul Jamil were appointed as Klang municipal councillors.

Another speaker and local government legal expert Derek Fernandez, however, thinks local council election is the way to go.

“Residents in affluent, educated and middleclass areas will say I want the service you give me and will vote accordingly,” he said.

“Of course, the candidate should be a local candidate and those who vote should only be allowed to vote by way of showing a quit-rent payment slip.

“Elections should start in at least one or two areas so these can be seen as a model of how elected people work.”

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