Better late than never. Finally, there is some movement in Selangor to bring back democracy to the lowest levels, i.e. the kampungs, kampung barus, tamans, kampung orang asli, etc... But, why are we only talking about elections for just 3 Kampung Baru Cina. What about the rest?
Remember, how quickly Perak (when under Pakatan Rakyat) moved to have elections at the local community levels....* But then even in Perak, there was only elections held in kampung barus in Chang Lih Kang's constituency but not in other constituency.
However, only the Perak state government, during the brief period it was ruled by Pakatan, materialised the promise, with residents in all 817 Malay villages given the right to elect their own ketua kampung or village heads.
Come on Pakatan Rakyat, this is something that can be done by you - and there really is no restrictions in any Federal Law, that would require you to implement this reform in the states that you do govern now.
Pakatan Rakyat-ruled Selangor is to hold elections for the heads of three Chinese new villages - Pulau Ketam, Pandamaran and Kuala Langat.
"This decision reflects that the state government is determined to return the rights to the people," state exco Ean Yong Hian Wah announced in a statement today.Ean Yong (right), who oversees new village development in the state, explained that local government elections are still yet to be implemented because of constitutional constraints.
"However, after conducting a study, the state government is of the view that direct elections can be tried at the lowest management level, which is the village committee.
"We could gain experience from it, (which can) serve as a reference for future local government elections," he said, adding that the unprecedented village head elections will be held in few months.
He also revealed that another eight Chinese new villages in the state would also have new heads.
Pakatan has been under pressure to restore local government elections, which was a pledge in the coalition's election manifesto.
However, only the Perak state government, during the brief period it was ruled by Pakatan, materialised the promise, with residents in all 817 Malay villages given the right to elect their own ketua kampung or village heads.- Malaysiakini, 14/1/2011, Direct election for 3 S'gor villages head post
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1 comment:
Baby steps la... At least they're starting to do it. I know your expectations can at times be beyond clouds (as I've read your posts before, just that I didn't write anything as comment), which can be good at times, but not all the time. It's credit where it deserves.
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