Pakatan Rakyat came in shouting for greater transparency, accountability ....and 'people power'. Not only are they still appointed by the PR State Government, and not elected by the people, but they also seem to be not transparent, accountable, informative & participative, or democratic as we all hoped that will be with the new Pakatan Rakyat government. We still hope for the best and hope Pakatan Rakyat will stop procrastinating and start showing us an example of what we can expect when we finally oust the UMNO-led BN government at all levels. I just hope that all these suggestions and proposals for reform is not treated by the PR government (and its appointed Local Councils) the same way it was done by the BN. If so, then we may have to start looking for new alternatives.
Over the past months, I have spent time monitoring the Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (Petaling Jaya City Council) vide their websites.
I have made some concrete ...easy to implement suggestions... to increase transparency, accountability, people participation, etc... BUT these simple suggestions are not even implemented in this Local Council which sees also prominent human rights activist sitting as appointed councillors.
What did we want to be reflected in these website of this Local Council?
* Adverts about the upcoming Local Council meetings (that are open to the public) - without this information [time, venue, agenda,...] but these information is still 'secret'... "It is open but we will not tell you when it is". If you look at the 'calendar of activities' - all we see is one item, i.e. Jadual Mesyuarat Majlis Bulan Februari 2009. Come on - this is already April 2010.
* Since these meetings of the Local Council are open to the public, surely minutes of these meeting could easily be posted on their own website. But, alas there is still no minutes. For the other 'secret' council meetings, at least a summary of the main highlights. The Malaysian Bar also was not so transparent - but today after every Bar Council meetings, summary of the highlights/decisions of the meetings are sent to members.
* The MBPJ is governed by certain laws - Enactments, By-Laws, Enactments, Regulations, and all that we wanted was that these laws are placed in the MBPJ website so that the people is aware of the contents of these laws. But NO - still it is not. Why keep the people in the dark about all these?
* Even the annual reports of the MBPJ is not there. The last and only report listed is the 2006 report. Where is the 2007, 2008 and 2009 MBPJ Reports, and also accounts?
* There are also no reports about the activities of the various Local Councilors. The backgrounds of the Local Councilors is also not listed. What are their party/NGO affiliations.?What are their professions?
It is clear that the present MBPJ has access to these websites but alas, these suggested simple tasks are yet to be done. Where is the 'REFORMASI' that have been promised? Updating a website is not that difficult but alas what the MBPJ seem to be most interested in is the tenders, and the collection of payments...
Where is the accounts? How is the money spent?
Why are we focusing on just the MBPJ? Well, this is just a 'sample' - and all comments and proposals also apply to all Local Councils in Malaysia, especially in the Pakatan Rakyat ruled States.
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