At last, there are some positive development in terms of transparency and accountability at the Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya(MBPJ) in the Pakatan Rakyat(PR) governed state of Selangor, where all Local Councillors are still appointed by the State government.
Positive Developments (that I have seen)
1- There is now a schedule for the various upcoming Local Council and Local Council Committee meetings, but still no Agenda (or Aturan Mesyuarat) for especially the Local Council meeting although the table has a column for 'Agenda'. No informing of the public that the meeting is OPEN to the public.
2- Minutes of the Local Council meetings are now available - but only for the month of Jun and August 2010, i.e.Minit Mesyuarat Majlis Bil 6/2010 and Minit Mesyuarat Majlis Bil 8/2010. What about the earlier Minutes from the time the Pakatan Rakyat Local Council took over? What about the more recent minutes as we are already in November?
3. Accounts - well there is only the Auditor General's Report for year ending 2008 - what about 2009, as it is now November 2010. There also appears to be no significant differences in spending in 2007 and 2008, and hence one wonders whether the wastage of monies alleged of the BN appointed council, is now being continued by the Pakatan Rakyat appointed council. There are also no detailed notes to explain the expenditure - just general terms. How much did the council spend for allowances for MBPJ Councillors, and other payments. How much did they waste in making 'overseas study tours'? What we need is really a detailled comprehensive report and accounts? How many staff? Wages & Benefits? Statutory Payments? Bonuses? How much spend on different community projects? How much was spend on things like 'official uniforms' of Local Councillors (an issue with BN appointed councillors before)? How many spend for parties? for functions? etc. It would also be good to be able to note the different spending activities between the BN and the PR. Or, can we say it is still the same - and nothing really has 'reformed' or 'transformed' under the Pakatan Rakyat.
There is still no annual report (better still quarterly reports) by the MBPJ as a whole, and maybe even the individual local councilors telling us how they spend their time and power as Local Councilors. If they have appointed Peoples' Local Communities - should not their names and the manner they were chosen, with contact email/phone numbers, etc also be available. In fact all Local Councillors must have their own personal blogs where they can tell the people even more of what they did - not just the places they visited, etc - but also their views on some of the local issues of concern.
There are positive developments - but much much more is still required.
*** I am monitoring the MBPJ, through their websites, as a sample of all other Pakatan Rakyat appointed Local Councils in the various different states they rule.
Some of the earlier posts are as follows:-
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