aNt's aNgle:
STILL NO NEWS is the best way that I can put it regarding the swearing in ceremony of MBPJ councillors that was supposed to take place yesterday.
It's 3.30pm and I haven't had a call or received a letter. However, I do know that the wait can't be very long from now.
We could hear something by this evening, tomorrow or Sunday. And I hope, the very latest by Monday.
Regardless, it is business as usual for me as far as I am concerned.
I received a call this morning by a resident in my zone complaining about a neighbour that has been driving her up the wall.
"Their home appears to be a breeding ground for mosquitoes; they park their cars indiscriminately blocking me from going out," she said irately.
"What's worse, someone inside is constantly at the drums driving my elderly mum insane." She added.
I added that there was nothing much that I can do for her at this time as I was awaiting to be reinstalled as councillor again.
However, I did put her to the right person to talk to at the health department of MBPJ and also suggested that she talk to the local police station for further advise.
This was after I asked her if she could talk to her neighbour directly about the problem. Her reply was an emphatic "NO" as her neighbour wishes to have nothing to do with her.
Once in as councillor, I might have to consider playing a mediator between the two in order to try and come up with the most amicable solution.
Until then, poor grandma will just have to put up with the din for a bit.
aNt
PET+BLOGSPOT
Here are more stories in the media regarding the delay in the swearing-in of councillors for your reading pleasure:
New Straits Times Press, Streets writer Sheila Sri Priya:
SWEARING IN CEREMONIES HALTED, REASON UNKNOWN
PETALING JAYA: The swearing-in ceremonies of local councillors in Petaling Jaya and Subang Jaya were abruptly stopped at the eleventh hour yesterday.
Both the councils were preparing for their respective ceremonies when they were told by the Selangor government early yesterday morning to postpone them until further notice.
The official appointment of the councillors at Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) was to have been held at 10.30am while the councillors of Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) were to have been sworn in at 9.30am.
MPSJ declined to comment on the issue.
"We have been told by the state government to postpone the swearing-in ceremony until further notice. We cannot issue any statement because it is a sensitive issue," said an MPSJ spokesman.
It is understood that many were unhappy with the list of councillors released by Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim on Tuesday night.
Several changes were made to the list by the state government the following day -- the last day of the councillors' term.
It is now learnt that the state government is considering making more changes to the list, thus necessitating the cancellation of the oath-taking ceremonies.
Selangor executive councillor for Tourism, Consumer Affairs and the Environment Elizabeth Wong, however, said there was nothing unusual about the postponement of the swearing-in ceremonies.
"I don't see anything wrong in the postponing of the ceremony. There are just some technical issues that need to be ironed out. I wouldn't read too much into it," she said.
Several councillors were left in the lurch yesterday when they turned up at MBPJ and MPSJ headquarters dressed in their best.
T. Anthony, who was to take his oath for a third term as an MBPJ councillor yesterday, turned up for the ceremony and found another councillor there.
The wheelchair-bound 50-year-old said he was overjoyed when he received a phone call on Wednesday evening informing him that he had retained his seat.
But his excitement turned into embarrassment when he reached MBPJ, all dressed up in formal attire, and was told that the ceremony had been cancelled.
Anthony, apparently, did not receive the phone text message sent out by the council yesterday informing the councillors that the ceremony had been cancelled.
Anthony joked that for once, he wished he was not disabled because then he could have just "run away and hide".
Due to his disability, Anthony had to wake up at 5am as it took him a longer time to get dressed than able-bodied people.
"The council's SMS (short messaging service) of the cancellation of the ceremony did not reach me. I am not blaming anyone for the miscommunication. However, I wish someone had called and informed me about the news.
"I (had been) very excited and was looking forward to my third term as a councillor," he said.
StarMetro, Central.
Friday July 9, 2010
List of councillors is out but some shocked over last-minute omission
By YIP YOKE TENG, THO XIN YI and FAZLEENA AZIZ
metro@thestar.com.my
THE last-minute cancellation of the swearing-in ceremonies for the Petaling Jaya and Subang Jaya councillors yesterday has sparked speculation that the list is not final and was still subject to changes. Councillors making their way to the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) and Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MBSJ) yesterday morning were informed that the ceremonies were postponed until further notice.
Both councils said the cancellation was made following a directive from the state government.
State local government, study and research committee chairman Ronnie Liu did not respond to queries from StarMetro on the reason why the swearing-in ceremony for both MBPJ and MPSJ were called off at the eleventh hour.
Teng: ‘Selection process of councillors is still far from the standard of CAT’ Meanwhile, there was frustration when the list of councillors for the 2010/11 term was revised and several names were changed after the list was released to the media by Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim on Tuesday night at a function at the Petaling Jaya Civic Centre.
However, the following day the Mentri Besar’s office emailed a new list at 5pm where several names were dropped and replaced with other names. There were also a few names which were not in the the first list but somehow made it into the amended list.
The updated list had names, contact numbers, educational background, occupation and home addresses of the councillors.
The list was also incomplete as MBPJ, Shah Alam City Council and Klang Municipal Council had one councillor short instead of the usual 24 members.
Mohd Sany Hamzan: Made MPKj councillor The state government’s explanation was that there was insufficient information on the newly-appointed councillors and as such their names were left out.
The missing information appear more questionable when Selangor state assembly Speaker Teng Chang Kim tweeted that the “selection process of councillors is still far from the standard of CAT (Competency, Accountability and Transparency)”.
When contacted, he said the selection process should be done before a committee of the state assembly.
He suggested a similar process as the appointment of supreme judges or senior officers to allow transparency and enable people to evaluate the candidates’ competency and capability.
“Through this method we can ascertain the qualities and qualification of these councillors under the watchful eyes of the media as well as the public.
“This will also comply with CAT without the unnecessary waiting game that took place,” he said.
Judging from how the councillors from the previous term surrounded the reporters at Civic Centre to check out the list, it was obvious that they were not informed about their appointments beforehand.
Santokh Singh: Made MPSp councillor It was a shock for MPSJ’s Dr Loi Kheng Min (NGO, representing Transparency International Malaysia), as he was initially dropped in the first list but appeared in the amended list.
“The councillors were not notified about the appointment. I only know that I made it back when MPSJ called me on Wednesday at 4.30pm to attend the swearing-in ceremony on Thursday,” he said.
Over in MBPJ, something tricky happened with the appointment of new councillors as a name, supposedly the one that caused controversy, was taken out at the eleventh hour.
The council saw four councillors dropped - two from DAP, one from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and the other from the Sosialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) who was also a member of the NGO Jerit (Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas).
The initial list announced saw four new names — Jeyaseelen T. Anthony and Tony Cheong Siew Thong from DAP, Selangor and Petaling Jaya Utara Keadilan Youth chief Khairul Anuar Ahmad Zainuddin as well as Kandiah Subramaniam who is also from PKR.
With some politicians commenting that it was unfair that another PKR member was appointed for a seat not meant for them, Kandiah Subramaniam’s name was taken out from the amended list that was sent out to the media on Wednesday.
When contacted yesterday, Kandiah confirmed that he was a member of PKR and refused to comment further because he did not get his appointment letter.
Dr Loi: Name in amended list Former councillor Panneerselvam Varathan, from PSM and who is also an NGO member, explained that they were in the midst of filling in the position under the PSM quota.
“Initially it did seem that PSM was not part of the line up but it was revised later,” he said when contacted.
In MPSJ, some were not happy with the appointment of NGO councillors and were shocked that two-term councillor Theresa Ratnam Thong was dropped.
Subang Jaya Residents Association (SJRA) chairman A.S. Gill said he is disappointed that Theresa, who was a good councillor, was not reappointed.
“The criteria for selecting or dropping the councillors should be made known to the public,” he said.
Sivakumar Periasamy: New face in MPSp MPSJ councillor Tan Jo Hann, who is the protem chairman of Coalition of NGO and Professional Councillors, said they had no say in selecting the NGO representatives.
“We have been negotiating with the Selangor Mentri Besar and Liu to involve us in the selection process. We are not saying that our suggestion must be accepted but rather let us be part of the process and then the state can have the final say,” he said.
He added that the ultimate solution is to have the local government election and let the people decide on the representatives they want.
Some councillors were also unhappy that some candidates appointed under the NGO quota were in fact political party members.
Jaberi Ami said although he is a PKR member he was also a member of the Malaysian Institute of Planners. Azizan Jamaluddin, on the other hand, is the Kelana Jaya Wanita PKR chief as shown on the PKR Selangor website.
She declined to comment when contacted.
To this, Selangor senior state exco member Teresa Kok said it was true that some political parties had put their members in the NGO quota because “too many candidates wanted to be councillors”.
“They put the Mentri Besar and Pakatan leaders under a lot of pressure. Frankly speaking, some NGO representatives are PKR, DAP or PAS members, too, but we cannot label them as purely party representatives because they are also activists in certain NGOs,” she said, adding that she felt that not all NGO representatives’ performance in local councils had been up to expectations.
“Some are mature in handling the cases but some have been making the people suffer or even cause delay in approval of projects. That has created resentment or questions among some party people towards the NGO representatives,” she said, but added that she still felt that the NGO quota should be maintained in the councils.
Komunitikini (Malaysiakini) Stories by writer Leven Woon:
THERESA NOMINATED TO ADVISORY COUNCIL
MPSJ outgoing councillor Theresa Ratnam Thong has been nominated by Subang assemblyperson Hannah Yeoh to be the member of the new local government advisory council.
Hannah said she submitted Theresa’s name right after she found out about the forming of this new body on Tuesday night.
“Based on her experience, she will be an asset for the 20-member council. I strongly hope that she will be (included),” Hannah said during a press conference at her service centre yesterday.
Theresa, on the other hand, declined to comment on the nomination, whose final lineup is expected to come out in due time.
“Let (the authorities) decide,”
The high-profile NGO councillor for JKP Zone 1 did not make the list of MPSJ councillors for the 2010/2011 term.
“NGO councillor, but recommended by political parties”
Meanwhile another NGO councillor told Komunitikini about the ‘curious’ NGO councillor selection process.“There are 25 percent quotas set for NGO councillors in every council, which means six out of 24 councillors will be from NGO backgrounds.
“But in fact we are not chosen directly by the top brass. In fact, each Pakatan Rakyat party is asked to recommend two names,” the councillor who prefers anonymity said.
“Many of them think we (NGO members) are talking too much and obstructing their space in the councillor seats.
“So each Pakatan party will nominate those they favour. Even better if they can find an NGO member in their parties.
“We are very frustrated. We are treated and assessed in a very unfair manner.”
MBPJ NGO councillor Derek Fernandez said the only fair system is to rehold local council elections.
“Any system under the current context will surely breeds favoritism and bias,” he said.
NGO COUNCILLORS QUESTION NEED FOR ADVISORY COUNCIL
The new local government advisory council drew flak among NGO councillors as they claimed it will serve as nothing but another layer of bureaucracy.
MBPJ councillor Derek Fernandez said the 20-member advisory body is a toothless tiger because there is no legal provision to empower them to act.
He said that as an administrative committee whose role was merely advisory, there was no guarantee the state executive council would take the ‘advice’.
“DBKL also set up an advisory council, but it just functions like a rubber stamp,” he said.
Coalition of NGO and Professional Appointed Councillors (Conpac) chairman and MPSJ newly-retained councillor Tan Jo Hann questioned the weight the advisory body will carry.
“The local council is empowered by the Local Government Act, in which (no one could intervene) with our (decision making) , even Ronnie Liu (state exco member).
“If they just give advice, it is very hard (for the body) to be (of substance).”
Council created to facilitate agendas
The new local government advisory council was announced by Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim last night as an independent body to facilitate the agendas of local councils.
The State has appointed Sharifuddin Budin, Abdul Rahman Moharam and Michael Soon to develop the council’s team members, headed by Ronnie Liu.
Khalid said the council advising the state can help look at things from a macro perspective and pave the way to local elections.
Derek rubbished the claim as he said the local councillors do have the capability of making well-rounded judgment.
“We have been here for two years. We know how to see things from a macro perspective, but the biggest weakness underlying eachcouncil now is their inability to implement the policies quickly.
“For examples the MBPJ councillors has tabled the billboard policy. But we can’t get the contractor to take down their billboards because they refuse to.
“Let say if a resident see a pothole. They call in to ask for repairs, but our contractors are not responsive.
“That’s why we don’t need any more advice; this is the time for action.”
He said rather than forming the body, MBPJ councillors have been calling for the appointment of a chief operating officer (COO) and full time councillors.
“The persons will get paid to implement all the policies, respond to requests quickly and revamp the PR machinery to disseminate information.”
Tan too cannot see any logic of the advisory body helping to bring in local council election.
“The CGG (Coalition for Good Governance) was commissioned by the state government to look at ways to implement local council elections. We submitted our feedback early last year but were told by the MB that they must get the parties’ top brass to brainstorm.
“We waited for some time. We even called Anwar Ibrahim, but there was no formal reply.
“There is a strong need for local elections and a Freedom of Information Act. In what sense can an advisory body help facilitate (that)?”
He said it would be better to have a panel that consist of experts from various fields such as legal, engineering or environment to advise the state.
“Unless they are apolitical, then we can expect something,”
The final appointment of the advisory council members will be announced by the state exco in due time, with many former councillors expected to be nominated.
Meanwhile the new batch of councillors of 12 local councils are expected to be sworn in by this week.
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