NST: Time to measure up 02/07/08

Time to measure up the Streets team

Subang Jaya councillors lining up to be measured for their official suit and batik outfit. — Picture by P.C. Lim

71 councillors take their oaths in PJ, Subang Jaya and Shah Alam.

Subang Jaya councillors being briefed by council president Datuk Adnan Md Ikhsan (left) after the swearing-in.

SHAH ALAM: A total of 71 local government councillors in Petaling Jaya (24), Shah Alam (23) and Subang Jaya (24) were sworn in yesterday.

The swearing-in ceremonies, which started at 11am, went well except for some dissatisfaction among a few councillors at the Petaling Jaya City Council over their portfolios.

The councillors, who are all new, were eager to work and couldn't wait to get down to business.

Several of the PJ councillors wanted to know about the scope of their jobs and on which of the 12 committees they would serve.

Wheelchair-bound Anthony Sivabalan of PET Positive wants to be in the health, legal, and enforcement committee instead of the finance committee that he was originally slated for.

"I want improvement in infrastructures, especially for the disabled and elderly. Before this, I had approached the council as an outsider, but now that I'm a councillor, I'm able to speak on behalf of the disabled and bring up their grouses directly to the mayor," he said.

Ramakrishnan Suppiah of the DAP said he did not want to be in the infrastructure and traffic advisory committee; he wished to be in the finance committee as he has experience in accounting.

Lawyer Derek Fernandez said he wished to be in both the One-Stop Centre and finance committees.

PJ mayor Datuk Mohamad Roslan Sakiman said a reshuffle would be done and a notice issued to all councillors within a week.

Michael Soon K.C, a councillor for Petaling Jaya, could not attend the swearing-in ceremony as he was on a business trip to the United Kingdom.

The Shah Alam City Council convened a meeting immediately after the swearing-in, with the councillors wanting to discuss residents' issues.

Among the issues raised was the maintenance of sports facilities including Stadium Melawati, the aquatic and extreme sports centre.

The state government decided that the Shah Alam City Council would be responsible for the maintenance of the stadium and sport centres, as opposed to the suggestion by the previous council that wanted the facilities to be maintained by Permodalan Negri Selangor Bhd.

Shah Alam mayor Mazalan Md Noor said the appointment of Ahmad Zamri Kamaruddin, the former city planning director, had been suspended."We received the order (on Monday) from the state government although we were verbally informed three days ago. We were not informed the reason for his name being left out.

"Any appointment after this will be done at the council's full board meeting," said Mazalan.

Councillor Sivarajan Arumugam, a chemist, pointed out that there was an imbalance of development in Shah Alam.

"The city boasts excellent infrastructure and public facilities, but there are areas still lacking, as well as illegal factories which cause environmental problem and flooding," he said.

Subang Jaya councillors were given a two-hour presentation on the council's background by the president Datuk Adnan Md Ikhsan. He briefed them on MPSJ operations and its past work before launching public Internet access centres.

Councillor Theresa Ratnam said she plans to raise the issue of illegal hawkers."I believe that the hawkers need a proper place to conduct their business. I don't know how we are going to minimise the number of illegal hawkers with the current economic situation, as people are looking for a second income," she said.

Housebuyers Association of Malaysia secretary-general Chang Kim Loong said: "The first issue I'm going to raise is the abandoned projects all over Subang Jaya."