Most columns or opinion pieces are meant to be timely. They are also written not as reactive responses to recent events but are to be more measured, analytical and insightful.

I originally wanted to write a piece on the process of selecting local councillors two weeks ago, a few days after the swearing-in of all the local councillors in Selangor. Little did I know that the postponing of my article to this week would coincide with the explosive allegations that the letterhead of an exco member of the Selangor state government had been used by a councillor to procure contracts.

These allegations have subsequently led to the sacking of Tee Boon Hock, a DAP councillor in Klang. But his sacking have not cleared the clouds hanging over the head of Ronnie Liu, DAP’s executive councillor in charge of local government affairs. In fact, the continued allegations against Liu led to what may be the first case of disciplinary action taken against a sitting speaker of a state assembly over a ‘tweet’ where Teng Chang Kim seemed to imply that real culprit had not been punished.

Instead of peeling away the sordid layers of political intrigue and contestation within the DAP in Selangor, I will choose to focus on the process by which councillors are selected. This, I think, is one of the core underlying issues which was not sufficiently investigated, understood or explained when the swearing-in of councillors in some of the key local councils including Petaling Jaya and Subang Jaya were inexplicably delayed a few weeks ago...