The Penang state government has formed a special committee headed by former Bar Council president Yeo Yang Poh to study legal hurdles of restoring local government elections.

This was in response to the Election Commission's claim yesterday that it does not have the legal authority to hold such elections, as requested by the Penang government.

Yesterday, the EC had said that they were bound by the Local Government Act (LGA) 1976, in which section 15 of the act states that local polls are abolished.

The EC had also suggested to both the Penang and Selangor governments to bring up the matter with the National Council for Local Government (NCLG) instead.

silencing cyberspace forum 070207 yeo yang poh When contacted, Yeo ( left ) said that he was informed by the Penang's chief minister Lim Guan Eng today about the advisory committee, which he had agreed to head.

"I have been requested to gather a few other lawyers to study the issue in detail and collate views to advise the state government," he added.

However, Lim today refuted the EC's position, and claimed that they are duty bound to conduct the proposed local government elections.

Applications rejected

At a function in Penang today, Lim said that he had written twice last year to the NCLG but both applications were rejected.

"The NCLG did not want the local polls issue to be part of the its agenda," he said.

The applications written last year on July 14 and Aug 24, were rejected on Aug 3 and Sept 14 respectively.

NONE Lim ( right ) also refuted EC's claim that the Local Government Election Act (LGEA) 1960 had been repealed.

The chief minister claimed that there was an amendment made in 1990 and therefore it was not possible that the act was abolished.

In essence, LGEA 1960, that allows for local polls, had been suspended due to the provisions in section 15 of the LGA 1976, which abolished local polls.

However, section 1 of the LGA 1976 allows the state government to be exempted from any restrictions.

Therefore, the state government could invoke section 1 of LGA 1976 to exempt itself from section 15 and thereafter revive LGEA 1960 in order to bring back local polls.

Meanwhile, in Selangor state Exco member Ronnie Liu is planning to organise a forum to share thoughts with all stakeholders involved in the implementation of local polls.