Want to have say on the effectiveness of your elected representative in your constituencies?

Well, join the Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) and UndiMsia in its bid to compile a "report card" on the performance of parliamentarians and state assemblypersons.

The initiative mooted by CCPS with the assistance of UndiMsia, a youth movement, will began its pilot project in the of Hulu Langat parliamentary constituency, which comprises three state seats.

NONE "This is an effort to make politicians more accountable and a platform that encourages people's participation," said UndiMsia spokesperson Edmund Bon ( lef t) at a press conference at CPPS headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

Dubbed Laporan Rakyat (or the People's Report), UndiMsia will be gearing up some 100 of its volunteers or "community movers" to visit Hulu Langat constituents as early as next week to gauge public opinion on their respective elected representatives.

The Hulu Langat parliamentary seat is held by PAS' Che Rosli Che Mat, who is also a nuclear expert, while the state seats are held by Umno's Ismail Sani (Dusun Tua) and Johan Aziz (Semenyih) and PKR's Lee Kim Sin (Kajang).

CPPS director Ng Yeen Seen said that they began to work on the project based on feedback from elected representatives and the public.

Grassroots importance only during polls

"We found that there is a huge gap between the member of parliament or state assemblyperson and the people," said Ng.

"Before commencing on the project we did approach politicians from various political parties... and their feedback has been very positive," she said.

Bon revealed that Hulu Langat was selected after a meeting with several political analysts showed that the victory margin of the 2008 general election winners was slimmer than five percent.

This, he said, indicated that the chosen parliamentary and state constituencies were "swing seats", reflective of the nation's racial demographics, with - 52.7 percent Malays, 36.2 percent Chinese, 10.6 percent Indians and 0.6 percent Others.

The report on the assessment and finding on Hulu Langat is expected to be ready by March 2012, added Ng.

NONE CPPS chairperson Ramon V Navaratnam ( centre in photo ) noted that as the research was to gauge the public receptiveness towards their elected representatives, it should be well-received.

"The good ones will participate, only the lousy reps will regard this (initiative) as a problem and a nuisance," he said.

CPPS will also be conducting a similar assessment nationwide. However, due to limited resources and manpower, the survey will be conducted via the Internet.

"This might take longer as we need a bigger sample size to ensure the data received is objective and fair," said Ng.

The scorecard, which takes less than five minutes to fill, is available for download at the  CPPS and UndiMsia websites, respondents can then email their feedback to CPPS.