The jubilation that greeted the creation of the United Kingdom’s first coalition government in decades has petered off as both the government and the public face the stark reality of having to make sacrifices in order to deal with the 163 billion pounds deficit that is owed by the country.

 

As evidenced by events in Greece, Portugal and Spain, governments throughout the world have come to the realisation that years of overspending and wallowing in a consumerist lifestyle has led to a situation where politically unpopular decisions will have to be made to decrease government spending.

 

Local authorities across the United Kingdom have targeted a number of services for the inevitable budget cut. They are planning for a cut at a scale that has not been seen since the 1970s. These include care for the elderly, public swimming pools and libraries. It is an unenviable task, and many questions have been asked on which services should be kept and which should go.

 

There will surely be opposition to the decisions. Groups with vested interest will seek to defend their territories. But there are steps that can be taken in order to soften the blow when public services are cut - steps that involve individual empowerment within society.

 

The local authority in Northampton, for example, which is led by the Conservative party, has taken a unique approach. They are organizing a roadshow to ask taxpayers which services they want protected.

 

Katherine Kerswell, the Chief Executive of Northamptonshire County Council, said that her council has to face up to the real situation. The council needs to take time to understand people’s concerns so that anger is kept to a minimum.

 

The key point with local councils in the UK that differs from Malaysia is the fact that members of the council are elected by the citizens that they serve, and this leads to a level of accountability that is absent in our own culture.

 

My president at the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs ( Ideas ), Tunku Zain Al-’Abidin Tuanku Muhriz had touched on the importance of local elections in his speech at our recent roundtable on Local Elections on May 12.

He suggested that the concept of a local governing body separate from federal control is still alien to the psyche of most Malaysians, but the case to bring it to the fore is compelling.

For no amount of bureaucracy at federal level would be able to identify the needs and wants of a given set of population as well as a council that is elected and supported by that very cohort.

 

These factors will have to be borne in mind by the Malaysian government as it seeks to revamp its approach in dealing with our national economy.

Sacrifices will have to be made (eg, with regards to decreasing public service and subsidies) but these can only be passed comfortably if the electorate has confidence that their voices are being heard and represented appropriately.