Penang is not giving up on local government elections although the Federal Court in 2014 ruled that the state’s application to carry out the exercise was ultra vires to the Malaysian constitution.

Towards this, on Sept 14, the state will collaborate with human rights NGO Suaram to hold a roundtable discussion on strategies to revive local polls.

The activity is one of the many in conjunction with International Democracy Day and the event will be held at 2.30pm at the Bilik Mutiara in Komtar, Georgetown.

Suaram secretariat member Jeffrey Phang, in announcing the matter today, said the state has taken several actions to revive local polls such as sending a letters to the Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government and the Election Commission to seek permission to hold the polls.

“ Although the Federal Court has ruled that sections 10 and 15 of the Local Government Act 1976 - which prohibits local elections - are constitutional, this should not prevent the state from its efforts to revive local elections,” Phang ( left ) said at a press conference in Penang.

“The state government should continue to encourage local democracy by appointing NGO representatives to become council members, to promote gender responsive and participatory budgeting and other measures that will provide empowerment to the public to be part of the decision-making process that affects their well-being,” he added.

Asked to cite examples of strategies that the roundtable will discuss, Phang said there are many ways to empower the people and the session will identify 'low-hanging fruits' that can be implemented by the state.

“We are also thinking of a budget monitoring committee to monitor how money is spent and how fast it is spent especially at the end of the year,” he said.

“Such committees empower the people when they become part of the government. The discussion next month will prepare us for actions to be taken in the future,” he explained.

Leading personalities invited

Accompanying Phang at the press conference was state executive council  for local government Chow Kon Yeow.

Chow said the state has come to the end of the road in its effort to seek local polls as it is 'legally and constitutionally' not viable.

Nevertheless, he was satisfied that despite the constitutional hurdles, the state has been able to implement local elections into local government policy.

“We are happy to collaborate with Suaram once again to organise this roundtable, and it will be fruitful to look not only into the constitutional aspects but other ways in which we can get people to participate in local government affairs,” he said.

The speakers for the roundtable event include Global Movement for Moderates chairperson and former Umno minister Saifuddin Abdullah ( photo ), Aliran president Francis Loh Kok Wah, Penang Institute Fellow Wong Chin Huat, former councillor Goh Ban Lee, Bersih chairperson Maria Chin, Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism director Cynthia Gabriel, constitutional expert Abdul Aziz Bari, lawyer Andrew Khoo and PKR Machang Bubuk assemblyperson Lee Khai Loon.

Penang was the earliest state to hold local polls where in 1857, the British allowed citizens to elect three out of five municipal commissioners. The practice was stopped in 1913.

The British government again held local polls in Georgetown in 1951 but the practice was suspended in 1964 due to the political confrontation with Indonesia towards the formation of Malaysia.