Municipal councils and how they work are a mystery to the average Malaysian. While there are 140-odd municipalities under the Housing and Local Government Ministry, residents have no say on how they are run and other issues that affect them daily.

It is not like the residents of these areas want to debate on foreign policy, although personally our kind members of Parliament could do more in carrying our will in Parliament; they just want to decide how drainage and waste management is conducted in their areas, and know the grass-cutting schedule.

The ministry said most of the municipalities are in deficit and that councillors should be paid wages and not allowances to do their job more effectively. I do think people should pay an amount appropriate to the proper upkeep of their district, and those assigned to carry and plan it should be paid adequately to meet the administration requirements. But if we are to pay fully for our local benefits, we ought to have the right to demand transparency and fair treatment.

That can only be achieved by elected officials, and not appointed ones, passing substantial power to the local government and adopting a mechanism for the populace to demand and see transparency and fair process.

Local council elections are not new to Malaysia. The first real election in this country was the local council election for Kuala Lumpur in 1952. Are we not capable of having something today that we thought was plausible 50 years ago and was done?

I dont think the ministry has a real argument against it, except the political consummation of such a decision. That is the real concern. However, when we are firmly in the 21st Century we cannot afford not to provide our citizens with the same rights of suffrage almost any working democracy in the world takes for granted.

What if the local government, elected by the people, decided on something that ends up costing the locals? Like the Montreal Olympics, where until today the taxpayers of Montreal still pay for the debts incurred in the running of that competition.

Firstly, power would not be devolved from Parliament and State Legislature immediately, and even when full devolution has been completed, the powers of local councils extend only so much, and their prime objective is to run the council to the benefit of the residents. Secondly, to assume appointed councillors will always be better qualified and capable than elected councillors is a non-argument. It could be either way, and in the case of any devolution there will be teething problems in the inception.

Local governments that are elected and recognised by the populace are more representative and capable in ensuring greater participation of the populace, and also planning and executing the projects and issues closer to the minds of the local population.

Planning by the very people affected by things will always be better than any other way around. It is a reality elsewhere, I dont think anything should hold it back in Malaysia