All councillors from the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) were sworn in last Thursday. I was one of them.
Michael Soon, who after having served for two full years and was dropped this year, shares with us some of the interesting murmurings that took place that afternoon after the solemn ceremony ended.
It is all revealed in the latest installment of his blog called Michael Soon - The Truth Seeker.
PET+BLOGSPOT
DEJA VU AT MBPJ
DEJA VU AT MBPJ
OLD LAMPS FOR NEW
Thurs 15 JuIy – I was at the swearing-in ceremony of the new councillors of MBPJ (Petaling Jaya City Council) to support my comrades who managed to survived the tormenting two weeks of hullabaloo over the appointment of councillors.
It was sort of a mixed feeling – a déjà vu of sorts. I was sworn in end July 2008 about a month late because I was at the time of announcement, in London attending an ACCA meeting, of which I was a Board member. If given the choice I would like to continue as councillor rather than be “promoted” to be an Advisor at State level advising all the 12 local councils in Selangor. The surreptitious and diabolical plan to promote me as an Advisor has now with God’s blessing, turning into something more substantive than a mere advisor. Nevertheless, my Lord has been kind to me and has protected me from the valley of the shadows of death (Psalm 23) and was comforted by Genesis 50v20 when Joseph told his brothers - "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good".
As I was watched the ceremony, I felt saddened that some of my ex-colleagues were not there namely Panneer Selvam, Mohd Halil and Prof Dr Melasutra. Paneer representing Parti Sosialist Malaysia (PSM) was dropped and replaced by a PKR man as reported in the Star today. However, Melasutra though selected, has opted out due to heavy university and family commitments. All of them have served with great distinction and may I on behalf of PJ folks say, “SYABAS”.
In the story of Aladdin, old lamps were exchanged for new lamps and hopefully the new lamps with better LED technology can shine brighter. Five new faces took their oaths namely:
1) Megat Iskandar (business management consultant) - NGO
2) Jeyaseelan T (lawyer) -DAP
3) Tony Cheong Siew Thong (Computer graphics designer) DAP
4) Khairul Anuar (Engineer/Unionist) PKR
5) Kandiah Subramaniam (Trade Unionist).PKR
Most of them are matured and experienced professionals and the perennial challenge facing councillors is whether they can devote more of their time on council work. This is especially true of councillors who are full-time employees or practising professionals and hopefully the new councillors are able to juggle their time better.
I heard the murmurings in the corridors of power in MBPJ that a powerful MP aka as the “puppet master” was trying very hard to lobby for a change of zone for his prodigy. It seems that he asked two senior councillors to swop zones with his prodigy as he felt that he is too young and immature to handle the zone (vacated by me) which is an affluent upper middle class area populated with professionals.
Up to the time of writing, these two councillors refused to swop as they reckoned that if the candidate is not matured enough to be a councillor of MBPJ, then why was he selected in the first place? Isn’t it sad that the “puppet master” placed feudalistic loyalty over the suitability of the candidate and short-changes the PJ rate-payers? Isn't this the same MP who tells BN/UMNO they are incompetent, corrupt and practises cronyism? One would have thought that a new lamp should shine brighter than the older one.
Another story going around was that a senior party member cum councillor has also been lobbying hard to change the service zone apparently he/she cannot serve in the zone within the constituency of the present Adun. Is there another political fallout or sandiwara? Watch out for updates on this in this blog.
An ex-councillor remarked, “Michael, how come you have been replaced by a computer graphic designer in the Audit and Corporate Governance committee which you have founded and spearheaded in MBPJ and Selangor ? He quipped, "maybe your audit reports lack computer graphic design" and he then chuckled.- that speaks volume of the puppet master’s commitment to competency accountability and transparency”
I replied, “In politics, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies – only permanent interests”. Politicians are all the same on both sides of the political divide, the main objective is self-preservation and the ends justify the means”
At this juncture, I am reminded by this great quote by Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux in a speech to the British House of Commons (Jan 29, 1828).
Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive;
Easy to govern but impossible to enslave.
Let us continue to support the new councilors and pray that they will uphold the universal values of justice, equality, competency, accountability and transparency and not succumb to temptations and unethical political pressures
May our good Lord continue to bless Malaysia inspite of our inequities.
OLD LAMPS FOR NEW
Thurs 15 JuIy – I was at the swearing-in ceremony of the new councillors of MBPJ (Petaling Jaya City Council) to support my comrades who managed to survived the tormenting two weeks of hullabaloo over the appointment of councillors.
It was sort of a mixed feeling – a déjà vu of sorts. I was sworn in end July 2008 about a month late because I was at the time of announcement, in London attending an ACCA meeting, of which I was a Board member. If given the choice I would like to continue as councillor rather than be “promoted” to be an Advisor at State level advising all the 12 local councils in Selangor. The surreptitious and diabolical plan to promote me as an Advisor has now with God’s blessing, turning into something more substantive than a mere advisor. Nevertheless, my Lord has been kind to me and has protected me from the valley of the shadows of death (Psalm 23) and was comforted by Genesis 50v20 when Joseph told his brothers - "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good".
As I was watched the ceremony, I felt saddened that some of my ex-colleagues were not there namely Panneer Selvam, Mohd Halil and Prof Dr Melasutra. Paneer representing Parti Sosialist Malaysia (PSM) was dropped and replaced by a PKR man as reported in the Star today. However, Melasutra though selected, has opted out due to heavy university and family commitments. All of them have served with great distinction and may I on behalf of PJ folks say, “SYABAS”.
In the story of Aladdin, old lamps were exchanged for new lamps and hopefully the new lamps with better LED technology can shine brighter. Five new faces took their oaths namely:
1) Megat Iskandar (business management consultant) - NGO
2) Jeyaseelan T (lawyer) -DAP
3) Tony Cheong Siew Thong (Computer graphics designer) DAP
4) Khairul Anuar (Engineer/Unionist) PKR
5) Kandiah Subramaniam (Trade Unionist).PKR
Most of them are matured and experienced professionals and the perennial challenge facing councillors is whether they can devote more of their time on council work. This is especially true of councillors who are full-time employees or practising professionals and hopefully the new councillors are able to juggle their time better.
I heard the murmurings in the corridors of power in MBPJ that a powerful MP aka as the “puppet master” was trying very hard to lobby for a change of zone for his prodigy. It seems that he asked two senior councillors to swop zones with his prodigy as he felt that he is too young and immature to handle the zone (vacated by me) which is an affluent upper middle class area populated with professionals.
Up to the time of writing, these two councillors refused to swop as they reckoned that if the candidate is not matured enough to be a councillor of MBPJ, then why was he selected in the first place? Isn’t it sad that the “puppet master” placed feudalistic loyalty over the suitability of the candidate and short-changes the PJ rate-payers? Isn't this the same MP who tells BN/UMNO they are incompetent, corrupt and practises cronyism? One would have thought that a new lamp should shine brighter than the older one.
Another story going around was that a senior party member cum councillor has also been lobbying hard to change the service zone apparently he/she cannot serve in the zone within the constituency of the present Adun. Is there another political fallout or sandiwara? Watch out for updates on this in this blog.
An ex-councillor remarked, “Michael, how come you have been replaced by a computer graphic designer in the Audit and Corporate Governance committee which you have founded and spearheaded in MBPJ and Selangor ? He quipped, "maybe your audit reports lack computer graphic design" and he then chuckled.- that speaks volume of the puppet master’s commitment to competency accountability and transparency”
I replied, “In politics, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies – only permanent interests”. Politicians are all the same on both sides of the political divide, the main objective is self-preservation and the ends justify the means”
At this juncture, I am reminded by this great quote by Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux in a speech to the British House of Commons (Jan 29, 1828).
Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive;
Easy to govern but impossible to enslave.
Let us continue to support the new councilors and pray that they will uphold the universal values of justice, equality, competency, accountability and transparency and not succumb to temptations and unethical political pressures
May our good Lord continue to bless Malaysia inspite of our inequities.
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