There has been much criticisms about the lack of openess, the lack of transparency, the lack of accountability, the lack of democracy .... and these are things that civil society and human rights activist will be angry and very vocal about on behalf of the ordinary people.
When the Pakatan Rakyat State governments, decided to appoint local councillors and proclaimed that about 25% of the Councillors will be from NGOs, civil societies,... there was much elation and hope. Of course, we all were hoping that these appointment by the State governments would be a short term measure, and believed that the 1-year (and not 3-year) appointments were an indication that soon we will be heading for Local Council elections...or if not some sort of democratically people-chosen councilors...but alas, there was the 2nd 1-year appointment, and then the 3rd 1 year appointment....and there really seem to be no indication that we will be having Local Council elections - or the usage of some other democratic process where the people will choose councillors.
What is sad, is that the Pakatan Rakyat government seem to be very much like its UMNO-led BN State governments, and appointments are on a quota system, i.e. PKR:DAP:PAS:NGO. And, that alone seem to be the criteria...
It was from the more vocal advocate groups for Local Council elections, transparency, accountability,.... that the State government appointed and filled the NGO quota. [Remember now that these persons chosen, were not persons chosen by the NGOs/Civil Society's as a whole - i,e, there was a meeting and the NGO/Civil Society groups forwarded names to the State government. The appointment was by the State Government - and they chose suitable persons...Hence, these persons appointed under the NGO/Civil Society quota are not 'wakil NGO' or 'civil society reps' chosen democratically, and as such they really have no reporting obligation or duty to be the representatives of NGOs/Civil Societies, do they now. They generally seem to have been co-opted into the local government ....into the Pakatan Rakyat government and have lost their individuality and their critical nature.]
On 24th March, we suddenly saw something happening with regard these NGO/Civil Society Local Councillors, when they launched CONPAC ... and, the hope was that silence would finally be broken...and true to being advocates for human rights, justice,... they would start telling us all that is wrong ...and their plans to bring about pro-people pro-environment changes... [One should appreciate that other reports say that this group was formed in November 2009.]
NGO & Professional councilors are often seen as an informal grouping of civil society representatives & ordinary professionals. We are not bound together with any common platform or manifesto except for general assumptions that we stand for certain principles based on Democracy, Justice and Human Rights.
We do not have a cohesive system with a clear representative to act as the “coordinator” of our “NGO & Professional councilors grouping” unlike political party based councilors who have a system of “party whips” to act as a coordination, support and communications system amongst their councilors.
Today we the NGO and professional councilors from different local councils in Selangor State are establishing and launching a “Coalition of NGO & Professional Councilors” (CONPAC). This important and new initiative is to provide a support network and coordination mechanism for NGO and Professional councilors in Selangor state and hopefully and eventually in other “Pakatan Rakyat” led State governments.
We therefore invite members of the media and civil society organizations to witness the launching of the CONPAC. This is a very significant event and the first time in the political history of local governments in Malaysia. - (CONPAC) Coalition of NGO & Professional Councillors launching
And, we waited...and the in June, CONPAC came out with a statement ...just before the next round of 1-year appointment of Local Councillors..it was good to know that they were still calling for Local Council Elections...
Therefore, in this spirit, CONPAC reiterates its call for local council elections to be revived in all States and especially the Federal government, who were in fact responsible for dismantling this democratic process in 1965, to allow it to take place.
However, since the system of appointment of local councillors will still be practised for the coming term of July 2010 to June 2011, CONPAC recommends the following:
● To maintain the promised allocation of 25 per cent quota for NGO and professional candidates.
● To include two carefully identified representatives from a credible civil society body such as the Coalition for Good Governance (CGG) to be part of the committee to finalise the list of local councillors.
● To publish the CV of all shortlisted local councillor candidates in different electronic and print mass media, including internet sites and even paid advertisements in all major daily newspapers in all languages before the finalisation of the appointments. As for those councillors who will be reappointed, to publish the performance assess- ment conducted by the State government to enable public feedback on their past term performance in service.
● To provide a channel for all citizens to view, comment and give feedback on the candidates to ensure people’s participation in these appointments.
Finally, we would like to express the above calls are issued in the spirit of transparency and accountability in the pursuit of achieving a truly democratic and transparent local government. - The Malay Mail, 10/6/2010, Ensure transparency when appointing local councillors - Democratic reforms needed for revival of local council elections
We see that save for the one paragraph about elections, they seem to be more concerned that the next appointment...
Then, again we heard from CONPAC - and their grievance was that there seem to have been a drop in the numbers(percentage) of NGO/Civil Society Councillors...
CONPAC AND CGG held a press conference in the DEWAN SIDANG UNDANGAN NEGERI in SUK Shah Alam today at 1pm (12th July 2010) to register our serious concern and disappointment with the process on how the local councilor appointments have been handled. Some 30 NGO members including about 12 NGO-professional councillors (both present and former) were there to meet the 15 or so press members and also handed a memo (read below) to the Mentri Besar Selangor Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim. He assured us there will be a meeting to discuss these issues in detail. We were not able to meet YB Ronnie Liu but we also delivered a similar memo to him through his office.CONPAC and CGG will continue to pursue the MB for the meeting hopefully this week even amidst the ongoing State Assembly sittings! We must really impress strongly upon the state and all the component parties of the Pakatan Rakyat government that appointment of NGO and professional councilors is not a "WELFARE ACT" as many of them might think! BUT our presence actually ensures that the PR government has really taken seriously the participation of non political party councilors in governance. This is to ensure that there will be 25% councilors who will be able to perform their duties free of political interests and influences.
Remember, that the appointing of representatives of civil society as Local Councillors was also practiced during the UMNO-led BN's governance of the State. But the numbers were minimal. I do know that people from FOMCA and Selangor Federal Territory Consumer Association (SCA) have previously been appointed.
CONPAC -
Professional Councilors - What is this really?
Are they doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers, dentists, teachers, nurses, academicians... professionals that have now been appointed as Local Councillors? Do they include those that are members of the Pakatan Rakyat and friends - i.e. PKR, PAS, DAP & PSM?
Or are they professionals that are not members of these 4 parties? maybe belonging to no political party or Opposition political parties (i.e. the BN parties)
NGO Councillors - Are they councillors who are involved in Non-Governmental Organisations(NGOs)? Well, this again is a very big list as even political parties, trade unions, employer's associations, Malaysian Bar, sports clubs, etc are all theoretically NGOs.Again, does it include members of PKR, PAS, DAP & PSM? If not, why not? Do they lose their identity as NGO/Civil Society activist just because they have exercised their political right to be a member of a political party?
Or, is this group really a coalition of persons not members of PKR,DAP, PAS (and maybe PSM) who are involved in NGOs and/or are professionals...
Maybe, a name change should be considered - Non-Pakatan Rakyat Independent Local Councillors. This way other 'independents' will not be left out, and the nature of the group will be clear.
I hope that this "CONPAC' will also start making public stands calling for greater transparency and accountability in these Local Councils in Selangor and other Pakatan Rakyat States...They should call for:-
1- That all Local Council Meeting shall be open to the public
2- That there should be public notification of all upcoming Local Council Meetings, time, date, venue and agenda.
3 - That all minutes of the Local Council shall be freely available to the public. That it be posted on the relevant Local Council websites. [Worse case scenario : That a summary of all the decisions and matters discussed be made public.]
4- That the annual report of the activities of the Local Council, with relevant statistics and certainly full income-expenditure accounts be made available to the public, at including the relevant Local Council websites. [For MBPJ, I cannot see their Annual Report & Accounts for 2008, 2009...]
5- That the biodata of all Local Councillors be made available to the Public. Party Membership, profession, etc should all be made available to the public. Who are the PAS appointed, DAP appointed, PKR appointed, PSM appointed, persons from the NGO (which NGO?), professionals, academics, etc...
6 - That all Local Councilors shall have a Blog/Website in which they will highlight their activities, concerns, issues and relate with the members of the public in an open, transparent manner..
After 2 years plus, sitting as Local Councillors, it is time for CONPAC to come out with a report - focusing also on the changes that have been brought in the Local Councils and its workings since Selangor was taken over by a Pakatan Rakyat government. Maybe, there should also be a comprehensive list of recommendations for the improvement of not just the appointment/elections of Local Councillors but all aspects of the working of the Local Council.
How are the Local Councilors relating to the people in their respective 'constituents'?
Are there regular monthly public meetings with all the people in the constituents - easy, since the Dewans(Halls) are under the Council. So, all we need is for public notices, and then the Local Councillor can go have a dialogue with the people... not just give a long speech ...but a question-answer session, not just questions from the people for the Councillor to answer...but also questions to the people to get their views, opinions...
How many councillors had such a meeting?
MPP - this is supposed to be some people's representative council. I believe they have this in MBPJ. Were the members of this body democratically elected by the people? If not, we can change things...How do we democratically elect these people?
In a Taman(or Kampung Baru) - letters are sent out to the people inviting them to a meeting at the Local Town Hall (or some suitable place) on a particular evening or week-end, telling them that there will be elections conducted to elect a community comittee - Chair, Deputy, Secretary, Treasurer, AJKs.. and on that day, elections will be conducted overseen by the relevant Local Councillor. Then the committee shall be asked to chose their representative to the said people's representative council in the area overseen by the Local Councillor. It is best to suggest that an alternative rep is also choosen. Now for every MPP meeting letters shall be sent to the Chairman and the relevant reps - Minutes will also be circulated. It is something that can be easily done - elections and true people chosen reps. Of course, we hope Local Councillors will not just follow the State government and appoint their own cronnies... I am sure the members of CONPAC will do the right thing, and let the people choose...
CONPAC members should use their Blogs to keep the public and their constituents informed of things.. It will be good that at least once a month there will be a big public meeting/dialogue session open to all in their relevant constituents.
We also need to start looking at monitoring our Local Councilors... and maybe some NGO/Civil Society group (not the Local Councilors) should take up this task - A report on the performance of Local Councils, and individual councilors would be good. Maybe, we could give some award to the best Local Council in terms of being open, transparent, democratic, pro-people, pro rights... and even special awards to good Local Councilors. This, I believe will help us improve our Local Councilors and Local Councils. What do you think?
In many of my past postings, I have made concrete suggestions of simple things that could be done to improve the running of our Local Councils...Just click and the label "Local Council" and "Local Government' to read them. In many of my posting, I have focused my attention on Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya, as a sample of the Local Councils in the PR governed States....
Some of the earlier posts are as follows:-
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