Selangor local gov't elections 'by end of next year'

VIDEO | 20.23 min

INTERVIEW Selangor will see its first local government election by the end of next year, vows Selangor's newly-appointed state executive councillor in charge of local govenrment, Teng Chang Khim.

This is a deadline he has set for himself and the government as part of the Selangor's five-year plan for local  government councils, Teng ( left ) said.

“I have set the deadline for the first election by the end of next year. If I am unable to do so, I’ll have to give an answer by then. That is the targeted date.

“The bill has been drafted and in fact, it was supposed to be tabled in the House more than a year ago, but there were some questions raised and (it was) pulled back,” Teng said in an interview with Malaysiakini last Friday.

However, Teng, who was speaker of the Selangor state assembly in the previous term, declined to elaborate why it was held back, despite it being part of the 2008 Pakatan Rakyat election manifesto.

“I think it (the dispute) is over. We look forward now,” he said.

Asked if it was true that PAS had been reluctant to push ahead with the implementation of the local government election, Teng said: “Never mind, I have set the deadline.”

“Give me a year. I don't want this to become a political issue. I want it to be an administrative issue,” he said when asked if he believes that he will be able to convince PAS this time around.

PAS Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad ( right ) in 2009 expressed reservations on local council elections, saying his party was worried that it might be attacked by the BN for “selling out the Malays” through local elections.

This is believed to be so because most of the appointed local councillors are Malays, and introduction of local government polls could threaten this situation.

Others in the Islamic party had also pointed to PAS-led Kelantan government, which is said to be functioning well for several terms despite not having local government elections.

Before the local government election comes to fruition, Teng said, the state government would need to consider limiting the terms of the appointed councillors to a maximum of two terms, of two years each.

“Right now, there is no limit, but this matter is still in discussion,” he said.

Taking over from contractors

Another move that is likely to step on some toes is the proposal to scale back private contractors for services rendered by the local government.

Taking garbage collection as an example, which the Selangor government took over from contractor Alam Flora, Teng said that other services such as cleaning and maintenance would soon be done in-house.

This is a leaf taken from Pakatan-led Penang, where the Penang Island Municipal Council has about three times more employees than the Shah Alam City Council.

“That municipal has a lesser income, but it has more employees because they have taken over the jobs of the contractors.

“We may have to appoint more employees to take over the job, now being handled by contractors. This is actually something that can spark controversy,” Teng said.

While some people may argue that this would be too costly and problematic for the councils, Teng believes that it is a core duty of the local government.

“It will not necessarily cost more because when you give (the project) to contractors, you give them profit, but when you take over, you have to spend according to your capital expenditure.

“It may hurt the employers (in the private sector) but not the employees because these employees now are foreign workers and are depriving work opportunities for the local people,” he said.

He added that while ideally he would prefer a 50-50 venture with the private sector, he would need to consult experts to determine the best mix, in line with the council's capacity.

Asked about the gripes over uncollected rubbish, following the takeover from Alam Flora, Teng said that while it was true that some areas needed improvement, the complaints have been exaggerated.

“(Complainants) are very much influenced by the BN propaganda. I received complaints that garbage along (someone's) office has not been collected for the past seven years.

“Can you imagine? Seven years? How much garbage would there be? You can't even walk through. But when people talk about it, the whole impression is that it's very bad,” he lamented.

No micro-management

All the same, Teng said he would rather leave the nitty-gritty of the daily operations of local government to the mayors and municipal presidents or local councils heads, and focus on policy matters instead.

These include other initiatives as part of the five-year plan:

•    Concentrate on core business of local governments.

- Standardising all procedures for development orders, applications, etc, for all councils;

•    Build a positive image for local councils.

- Build 500 playgrounds in the next five years, as a way to show that the councils are providing service.

•    Democratisation of local elections.

- Providing live Internet streaming of local council meetings for eight out of 12 local councils, with meeting minutes posted online. (The remaining four councils are in rural areas where Internet usage rates do not justify the cost of live streaming.)

•    Special projects (related to election manifesto)

- Bus service, with a written proposal by the local councils due in two months.

- More enforcement officers doing patrols (in lieu of auxiliary police).

- Incentives for private sector to instal CCTVs outside their buildings by providing discounts in other areas like advertising fees.

“What I'm doing is to run a macro-management of the municipal duties. Micro is done by them (the local councils) and they have to answer for it,” Teng added.

Yesterday: Teng mulls curbs on vice with single-sex massage parlours

Tomorrow: Should the MB loosen Selangor's purse strings?