local council 2

Local govt elections ban - where was Parliament? Democritus Oct 7, 05 3:28pm


I have two points to raise. I seem to remember reading somewhere that these local council elections were first suspended in 1965 due to some irregularities. Subsequently, a Royal Commission of Inquiry under Senator Athi Nahappan travelled around the country, getting views. Such a commission would have had to be set up by the government and require and receive the royal assent. Yet were the findings of the commission ever laid before Parliament? I also read that the ‘final’ decision about the report was made by the then Prime Minister’s Department which decided that ‘we had a sufficient level of democracy’ and that local government elections were ‘unnecessary’. That decision was made in 1970 or 1971 - perhaps the close proximity to the May 13 affair rattled the government then. Can anyone elaborate on this? It does seem strange (if true) that a decision of this magnitude, effectively disenfranchising the people from the exercise of a significant part of their democratic rights, could have been made without any debate in Parliament. And isn't it incredible that we lay supine while that administrative fiat robbing us of our democratic rights was not rescinded for 35 years! Even worse, we hapless Malaysians returned the same ruling coalition back into power every year since 1957, for the last 48 years - they now sometimes act and think as if they had a divine right to rule. There is possibly only one other entity that has had such a long untrammelled grip on power - the Communist Party of China. What does that say about us as a people? What of Local Initiative 21 which is being pursued by the Housing and Local Government Ministry together with the United Nations? We would look like fools if we try to comply and modernise our various municipal administrations when a fundamental part of that international initiative - elected local government - is absent. Can you be proud to be Malaysian over this? My next point concerns the recent flurry of letters here about the 5% bumi housing discount. The various sides of the issue have been fairly well-stated on all sides. However, we Malaysians have a kind of ‘simplistic genius’ when it comes to resolving issues. By that I mean an ‘easy’ solution is quickly taken to resolve issues. As former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad put it: ‘If everyone is unhappy, then it must be a good solution’. Really? Perhaps that is why the present administration is no closer to unravelling various pressing issues, the number one being that Malaysia is slowly turning into Korrupsia. Anyway, the arithmetic shows that giving bumis a 5% discount hardly does them any favours - the effect on the down payment (usually the biggest obstacle) and the monthly loan installments, is also 5%. So, for a RM300k house, if you cannot raise the 10% downpayment of RM30k, then how will the RM28.5k (after 5% discount) suddenly become ‘within reach’? The point of the 5% discount seems to me twofold - to lessen the possible envy and resentment of the less well-off Malays when they see non-bumis owning nice houses; to create a ‘feel-good’ feeling among the Malays. But this creates resentment from the non-bumis who have to pay more while it really does not make it all that more affordable to the Malays. The second purpose is to achieve racially integrated neighbourhoods . But does it really? What studies have been done and where are the results? Aren't there better ways? Let’s get away from racialising every darn thing. If we don't, we shall one day be the outstanding example in the world of a racially-defined society, just as polarised then as we are now, with the same ruling coalition.