Thanks to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, Malaysians must focus on the question of why there should not be local government elections in Malaysia on the 50th anniversary of the suspension of local council polls.

 

Fifty years ago, on March 1, 1965, the then prime minister - Tunku Abdul Rahman - suspended local council elections, giving as justification the threat of the Indonesian Confrontation. However, he gave the solemn undertaking that “the very moment peace is declared, I can assure this House that the elections will be held.”

 

It is 50 years down the road and Malaysians are entitled to ask why they should continue to be denied local government elections, when it is accepted as a basic right of citizens in countries committed to a democratic way of life.

Of course, I do not agree with Hadi that local government elections may lead to another May 13 race riots.

In fact, this is the first time anyone has claimed that the restoration of local government elections could result in another May 13 incident.

The causes of the May 13 race riots are still a guarded secret and this is why in my first speech in Parliament in February 1971, I had urged for a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to conduct a wide-ranging investigation into the causes.

I do not propose to discuss the causes of the May 13 riots, nonetheless they were not caused by the 1969 general election, but by irresponsible elements who exploited the election results for their own ends.

It is, therefore, a great fallacy for anyone to assert that the restoration of local government elections could result in another May 13 incident.

However, with Hadi opening the way, I will not be surprised if this will henceforth be used by reactionary BN leaders as an additional reason for opposing the restoration of local government elections.

Malaysians are already seeing the extraordinary spectacle of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan springing to the support of an opposition leader - with his own twisted logic.

Many seem to have forgotten that a very vibrant local government democracy had existed in the country in the 1950s and the first half of the 1960s.

There were 373 local authorities that had well over 3,000 elected local councillors before local government elections were suspended in 1965.

Restoration of local polls recommended

An RCI headed by Athi Nahappan was established into the workings of the local government, which recommended the restoration of local government elections.

However, a law was finally passed in 1976 to abolish local government elections.

Although a more efficient and accountable local government had been presented as arguments against the abolition of local government elections, the real reason was that BN leaders had no confidence of a victory in the local council elections - or the lack of commitment to democracy and the principles of good governance.

It is also wrong and misguided to argue that the restoration of local government elections will benefit any one race, or on the grounds that the towns are dominated by the Chinese, and that the DAP will be the main beneficiaries.

This is to ignore the process of Malay urbanisation in the 45 years since the 1969 general election.

As DAP Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming has pointed out in his statement today, the ethnic composition of many of the urban councils have changed significantly since the May 13 incident in 1969. The large migration of Malays from the rural to urban areas have made places like Kuala Lumpur very different today from what it was in 1969.

According to the 2010 census data, the Malay population in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (45.9 percent) outnumbers the Chinese population (43.2 percent).

In fact, out of the three city halls, nine city councils and 37 municipal councils in Malaysia, only six have populations where the Chinese outnumber the Malays - Ipoh, Kuching Selatan, Johor Bahru Tengah, Penang, Sibu and Subang Jaya.

In other words, 88 percent of these large urban areas have a plurality - and in most cases, a majority - of Malay residents. Even in a place like Petaling Jaya, the Malay population (46.2 percent) outnumber the Chinese population (39.6 percent).

I don't think Ong can be faulted when he concluded: “While the Malays may be slightly under represented in the voting population in some of these urban areas because of their younger demographic profile, it is clearly wrong to say that the DAP will dominate local elections on the basis that urban areas are largely Chinese dominated.”

Fifty-eight years after Independence and 52 years after Malaysia was formed, Malaysians should move beyond the politics of race to an inclusive politics, to embrace all Malaysians - regardless of race, religion, region, age or gender.

The 2008 and 2013 general elections are proof of this politics of inclusion which unite Malaysians - instead of the ‘divide-and-rule’ politics of exclusion - and this is one important reason why, after 50 years, local government elections should be restored to Malaysia.

LIM KIT SIANG is DAP parliamentary leader and Gelang Patah MP.