So we are going for the 12th General Election on March 8, 2008. The war drums has started. Offensive attacks will begin between ruling coalition and the oppositions. War of posters and war of words will intensify until the day of casting votes. Of course money would flow to fish for votes as what is acknowledged by Khairy Jamaluddin. The general election in Malaysia is just like another festival. People are making money in various ways, bloggers included on the increased traffic to their sites.
But lest we forget, there is another branch of the government, another type of representatives we have not elected since the days of Sukarno’s confrontation on Malaysia, the local government representatives. They are representatives from the posts of the councillors to the highest post of mayors, from ‘Majlis Perbandaran’ to ‘Dewan Bandaraya’, who are being appointed to the throne by the state government. These representatives were once called The Little Napoleons.
When the Prime Minister complained that there are a lot of Little Napoleons in the government agencies, we were unsure which agencies he was referring to. He did not mentioned the local government straight away to avoid arousing people to pressure the government to re-enact local government elections again. But everybody knows that it was the local government representatives that make the biggest bulk of these Little Napoleons, his very own.
Originally elections in Malaysia exist at three levels, national, state and local level. National level elections are for the membership of the lower house of the Parliament, the Dewan Rakyat, state level elections are for the membership in the various State Legislative Assemblies and local level for the membership of local, town and city councils. Unfortunately the local government elections were suspended after the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation in 1964. The suspension was never lifted and instead made permanent under the Local Government Act 1976. Under the Act, or laws of individual states where relevant, local government members are appointed by the state government, mostly by the respective Chief Ministers.
Why local elections would not be brought back? The answer is very simple, the ruling government knows from the worldwide experience that the oppositions tend to dominate the councils as the electorate desires for checks-and-balances on them. They would never allow this to to happen and they know very well that they are in control as amendments of the Local Government Act 1976 to re-enact local government elections would require constitutional two third majorities in the parliament, an advantage that they always have. Cost factor was added that holding additional elections are expensive affairs, to discourage its revival.
Do we really need local elections? The answer is a big yes. I pay all sorts of taxes and local taxes ranging from council tax, assessment tax, land tax and etc. I do not want an appointed representatives messing around with my money. I want to elect my own representatives to handle my money and provide the services that I deserve. I do not want Zakaria Mat Deros’s saga to happen again and I definitely do not want the Bukit Cerakah ecological destruction to repeat again, a blame I point direct to these appointed 'Little Napoleons'.
But lest we forget, there is another branch of the government, another type of representatives we have not elected since the days of Sukarno’s confrontation on Malaysia, the local government representatives. They are representatives from the posts of the councillors to the highest post of mayors, from ‘Majlis Perbandaran’ to ‘Dewan Bandaraya’, who are being appointed to the throne by the state government. These representatives were once called The Little Napoleons.
When the Prime Minister complained that there are a lot of Little Napoleons in the government agencies, we were unsure which agencies he was referring to. He did not mentioned the local government straight away to avoid arousing people to pressure the government to re-enact local government elections again. But everybody knows that it was the local government representatives that make the biggest bulk of these Little Napoleons, his very own.
Originally elections in Malaysia exist at three levels, national, state and local level. National level elections are for the membership of the lower house of the Parliament, the Dewan Rakyat, state level elections are for the membership in the various State Legislative Assemblies and local level for the membership of local, town and city councils. Unfortunately the local government elections were suspended after the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation in 1964. The suspension was never lifted and instead made permanent under the Local Government Act 1976. Under the Act, or laws of individual states where relevant, local government members are appointed by the state government, mostly by the respective Chief Ministers.
Why local elections would not be brought back? The answer is very simple, the ruling government knows from the worldwide experience that the oppositions tend to dominate the councils as the electorate desires for checks-and-balances on them. They would never allow this to to happen and they know very well that they are in control as amendments of the Local Government Act 1976 to re-enact local government elections would require constitutional two third majorities in the parliament, an advantage that they always have. Cost factor was added that holding additional elections are expensive affairs, to discourage its revival.
Do we really need local elections? The answer is a big yes. I pay all sorts of taxes and local taxes ranging from council tax, assessment tax, land tax and etc. I do not want an appointed representatives messing around with my money. I want to elect my own representatives to handle my money and provide the services that I deserve. I do not want Zakaria Mat Deros’s saga to happen again and I definitely do not want the Bukit Cerakah ecological destruction to repeat again, a blame I point direct to these appointed 'Little Napoleons'.
I do not want the appointed local representatives. I want the elected local representatives, elected by the people and answerable to the people. If they do not do their job, be sure they won’t be elected by the people in the next term. I do not care much about the national and state level representatives, they are not handling our daily affairs, they are useless anyway.
Ironically, none of the oppositions fought for revival of the local elections in their manifestos, none heard from Anwar Ibrahim, to my greatest frustration. Probably he will appoint his very own Little Napoleons, if he ever gets the top job.
