Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) staff today staged a protest, believed to be against councilors who accused them of slacking off.

Pictures of the protestors, dressed all in black, were circulated on social media, with the hashtags #pray4justice #pray4staff and #welovembpj.

The Selangor government last week rejected a proposal by the MBPJ to award a three month bonus to councilors and staff for 2014.

Eleven out of 19 MBPJ councillors had on Feb 27, voted to award the three months’ bonus to its employees during a full board meeting.

 

Those against it include NGO representative Cynthia Gabriel, who reportedly said the MBPJ was not performing well enough to warrant such a bonus.

Malaysiakini understands that the staff member submitted a memorandum against the dissenting councilors to acting city mayor Puasa Md Taib today.

It is understood that the memorandum is targeted against Gabriel and two other councilors, for comments to the media and on social media, regarding the bonus cancellation.

 

However when contacted, Puasa refused to elaborate on the contents of the memorandum.

 

"I have not yet read the memorandum, so I may only comment on it tomorrow," he told Malaysiakini.

A photo of the protest was also uploaded on Twitter by Say No To Kidex press secretary Mak Khuin Weng with the caption: "Silent MBPJ staff protest today."

"Source says it's related to 3-months bonus that was cancelled," he said.

However, MBPJ responded on its official Twitter handle @pjcitycouncil to say Mak is "mistaken".

"If you know nothing, don’t simply say that," the council said.

'Don't dishonour us'

 

Staff members who uploaded pictures of the protest on social media said it was to reclaim their honour.

A photo of men in black with white masks, captioned: "We are in mourning. Don't dishonour us, councilors!"

 

"The councilors said MBPJ was not working, so we have to protest," a staff member said on Instagram.

 

Another photo uploaded on Instagram was captioned: "United to sack AM (councilors)".

 

When contacted, Councilor Lee Suet Sen said only a small portion of MBPJ staff had taken part in the protest.

 

"Less than 100 staff out of whole MBPJ's 1,400 staff (took part in the protest), which is a very small minority," he said.

 

MBPJ has been under fire for poor road maintenance, with locals forced to post geo tagged pictures online to pressure the council to fix the numerous pot holes.

Most who responded to a poll by the Facebook group Pot Hole Malaysia today said that MBPJ staff do not deserve a three month bonus.

“If we need a Pot Hole Malaysia Facebook page, it just means local authorities fail. How to justify a three month bonus? That is all our money which we paid in assessment,” one respondent said.

Another respondent said that no one would object to local council staff getting a bonus if they do do what they are supposed to do.

This includes ensuring that roads do not have pot holes and proper waste management, he said.

“It’s simple really and if the job is well done, I am sure the rakyat would support bonus payments as well as a salary hike!” he said.