A Chinese new village in Perak will continue to hold village chief elections next year, although the state government has discontinued the practice.

The elections were initiated in 2009 when Pakatan Rakyat administered the state. Another election was held in 2013, organised by PKR.

Now, villagers have formed their own election committee and will hold the elections on their own. Elections will be held on Jan 2 next year in a Chinese temple. Four candidates are vying for this unpaid position.

Although the position is not officially recognised by the state government now under BN rule, villagers want the practice to continue because they want to manage their neighbourhood themselves.

Chairmperson of the village chief election committee Yew Soo Guan said villagers strongly believe in democracy, and not having a village chief in the past had led to many problems.

"The villagers want someone to look into problems faced by our village... Issues may include clogged drains, electricity prices, lack of street lamps, among others," said Yew.

He claimed MTD New Village was increasingly marginalised by the government and there has been an overall lack of development there.

"We need some autonomy to help ourselves. We don't want to be marginalised in our country's path to development," he said.

Informal recognition

Yew said the authorities do appear to accept that the elected village chiefs were the de facto community representatives. This unofficial form of recognition does often lead to the authorities being more responsive, he said.

The village chief election began as an experiment in early 2009 at the Gunung Rapat New Village. By 2013, PKR helped organise elections for five villages.

The Selangor government in 2008 also held elections for three new villages - Kampung Baru Sungai Jarom in Jenjarom, Kampung Bagan in Pulau Ketam and Kampung Baru Pandamaran. The practice continued in 2013.

PKR Youth secretary-general and Teja state assemblyperson Chang Lih Kang, who was an instrumental figure in the last two village chief elections in Perak, said although his party was no longer involved in the exercise, the election committee did seek their advice on how to run the election.

"We shared our experiences with them including explaining the benefits of having an elected village head and how to perform the task," said Chang.

He said that although MTD New Village is not officially recognised by the state government as a new village or kampung tersusun (organised village), it should be recognised as one.

"If you look closely, the overall structure of MTD would have been like a new village," said Chang.