Tuesday, May 05, 2009

What Difference PR and BN? Democracy, Religious Places of Worship, etc...

What is the difference between the Pakatan Rakyat and the BN?

That is the question that is going through the heads of many Malaysians...and we need answers...

CHANGE - that is what the people wants. The change that we want is more that the change of persons holding positions.

What are the changes that the Pakatan Rakyat have brought about? I have this question to many, and most are at lost. Some say that it is so much more easier today dealing with the Local Authorities...and the State authorities... but hello, is it because of any new policy or real changes - or is it because they are 'new' ...and/or are people you know. It is common to find that the 'new' broom is always effective - compared to the 50+ year old BN broom..

CHANGES that we need are changes in law, changes in practices, changes in policies that is definite - that has been made law. Yes - made into law.

GREATER DEMOCRACY - that is one thing that we want.

In States that are controlled by the Pakatan Rakyat,

- Every kampung, new Village and Taman shall have an ELECTED Chairperson & a committee of between 6 - 12, who shall be elected for a 2 year term. There shall be a Deputy Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer. These committees shall have a meeting at least once a month. Minutes of committee meetings shall be available to all members of the community.

- Every State Assembly Constituency area shall have a State Assembly Constitutional Area Committee(SACAC), who shall comprise of all Chairpersons (plus one other) from the various Kampung, Kampung Baru and Tamans in the area. From amongst their members, they shall choose a Coordinating Committee (SACAC-CC) made up of a Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, Secretary, Assistant Secretary and 5 to 7 committee members. The ADUN for the area shall automatically have the right of attendance and participation at the meetings of the Committee, but no voting rights. State Assembly Constitutional Area Committee(SACAC) shall meet at least once every month, and its minutes shall be made available to all members of community within the area.

- Every State Assembly Constitutional Area Coordinating Committee members, within a Parliamentary Constituency shall be members the Parliamentary Area Committee(PAC), which shall be coordinated by a Parliamentary Constituency Coordinating Team (PAC-CT) made up of an elected Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, Secretary, Assistant Secretary and 5 to 7 committee members.

- Parliamentary Area Committee shall also have representatives from minority groups, and these representatives are appointed.

- The MP and the ADUNs of the area shall automatically have the right of attendance and participation at the meetings of the Parliamentary Area Committee, but no voting rights.

- The Local Council President and at least 5 of its members shall attend all meetings of the Parliamentary Area Committee, but shall not have voting rights.

- The Parliamentary Area Committee (and the State Assembly Constitutional Area Committee) can exclude the presence of the ADUN, the MP and the Local Councillors for certain part of its meetings, or for some of its meetings (but not more than 50% of its meeting). The reason for this is that these committees may want to discuss privately matters amongst its members first. Some MPs, ADUNs and Local Councillors may be too dominant and interfering in their manner.

- The terms of Parliamentary Area Committee and the State Assembly Constitutional Area Committee is two(2) years.

- The Local Council shall be responsible for the provision of meetings rooms, and providing assistance in photocopying, printing...

- The Menteri Besar and the State Exco shall meet with the Parliamentary Constituency Coordinating Teams (PAC-CT) at least once every 3 months - and the purpose is primarily to receive complaints and suggestions about mechanisms, MPs, ADUNs, Local Councils, and other State Government/Federal Government agencies that is creating 'problems'.

THEN...THEN we need LOCAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS, Elections for the Penghulu, Elections for Senators...

So, when are we going to have this...

With regard to BN ruled States, Pakatan Rakyat ADUNs and MPs could set up a similar structure within their own constituencies...

I also hope that the BN will bring about greater democracy to the people - and have elections at all levels...

The people want more DEMOCRACY - they want greater participation. They want more effective mechanisms of communications between the people and the government..They want greater TRANSPARENCY and ACCOUNTABILITY.

We must discusss other areas where we want changes.... Maybe, you have some ideas...share, please by posting a comment...I start with some thoughts on Religious Places of Worship...

RELIGIOUS PLACES OF WORSHIP
- No Church, Temple, etc unless you have 5,000 or more devotees (Was this not a Selangor policy - has it changed?)
- Cemetries and Cremation sites (The Christians/Catholics are running out of space for a long time - Have the new PR government allocated more land to be used as cemetries, etc...)
- Maintenance of places of worship, cemetries, etc - maybe this should be the responsibility of State Governments, and Local Councils.
[As a minimum, the government should errect fences around cemetry sites, and cut the grass - maintain cleanliness...There should be good tarred roads heading to cemetries. There must be parking areas closed to cemetries. To get to the Mentakab Christian cemetry, one travels an un-tarred road, and when it rains it is dangerous. The cemetry floods because land given is low. It looks like a jungle - and the land given has also allegedly been encroached into by others...]

I believe that State Governments (and Local Councils) should ensure that persons of all faiths/beliefs (irrespective of numbers) have places of worship, and places for cemetries/crematorium, etc.

I believe that the government must be responsible for maintenance and up-keep. In Kelantan, I believe the PAS government gives each and every place of worship a minimum sum for the purpose of upkeep and maintenance - and this is good.

WHAT ELSE?

2 comments:

Manature said...

Why don't you stand for election? Go for it and bring us all those changes you mention.

Born2Reign said...

Peter,
You should not be asking a journalist to be a politician, same goes for blogger. A blogger with good analytical mind cannot be criticising his own policies if he runs for office.

Hence, journalist/blogger should remain separate from the executive govt. The govt needs check and balance, even when PR becomes ruling govt.