The Selangor government has instructed the heads of all local governments in the state to meet with the elected representatives in their localities regularly, the state executive councillor in charge of local government, Ng Sze Han, said today.

Selangor mayors and local council chairpersons, he said, are to hold meetings with MPs and state assemblypersons in their respective areas at least once every three months, even if they are opposition representatives.

“This is to ensure there is better communication between the elected representatives and the local authorities,” Ng told reporters.

He said the directive was made following feedback from some elected representatives that they don’t have an adequate channel to raise issues to local authorities in their constituencies, and that it would come into effect immediately.

Ng was speaking to reporters after closing a three-day training session for officers and local councillors from six of the 12 local government councils in Selangor, namely the local governments of Selayang, Kajang, Sepang, Kuala Langat, Kuala Selangor and Sabak Bernam.

Another training session for the other six local authorities would be held at a later date.

Ng said these training sessions would help ensure that local councillors who were appointed or reappointed to the 2018-2020 term understand their duties and can provide the best service to Selangorians.

Earlier, in his closing statement at the session, Ng reminded the local councillors present that their appointments are not a political reward, but a responsibility, especially since Selangorians now have higher expectations of the state government, as Pakatan Harapan is now ruling the state for its third term.

He also told the local councillors to go to the ground often to meet with the people and ensure that there is adequate community engagement. In addition, this would be one of the criteria by which their performance would be evaluated.

“If the menteri besar himself can go to the ground, if I myself can go to the ground, and if the mayors and local council chairpersons can go to the ground; I don’t see any reason why local councillors can’t go to the ground,” Ng added.