Exco: Some council members don't know their roles

The Select Committee on Competency, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat) today revealed that there are local council members who are in the dark of their roles in the planning and development.

This was raised during the public hearing session to evaluate the performance of Selangor local councils at the state secretariat building (SUK) here today.

The committee was told that there is also no guideline to evaluate the performance of the council members, said Selcat chairperson Ng Suee Lim (photo).

Selangor Local Government, Public Transportation and New Village Development Committee chairman Ng Sze Han, however, said that the guidelines or job scopes for the council members were given to council members upon their appointment.

There were also basic courses conducted for them, said Sze Han who was one of the witnesses in the hearing.

"The course clearly outlined their roles and responsibilities.

"So I was shocked when council members were not clear of their roles.

"The responsibilities as council members were also clearly outlined in the Local Act 1971," he said.

Sze Han (below) further suggested another similar course to be conducted to improve the council members' performances.

In today's session, about 17 witnesses were called representatives of the resident associations, mayors, and the state exco.

Selcat comprised of Bukit Lanjan assemblyperson Elizabeth Wong, Hulu Kelang assemblyperson Saari Sungib, Banting assemblyperson Lau Weng San, and Bandar Utama assemblyperson Jamaliah Jamaluddin.

Other members also include Sungai Air Tawar assemblyperson Rizam Ismail and Sijangkang assemblyperson Ahmad Yunus Hairi.

In a media conference after the public hearing later, Suee Lim said the committee had agreed to bring the motion to the state government to implement the Key Performance Index to monitor the works by the local council members.

He also explained that it's time to hold a public hearing to evaluate the performance of council members.

"After 12 years, Selcat thinks that it's time for Pakatan Harapan government to evaluate the performance of council members whether they are in an excellent position or otherwise.

"The hearing is not to punish but to untangle certain issues. Today, we saw that there's no guideline or specific evaluation on the council members and we need to highlight those to improve their roles," Suee Lim said.

He said Selcat also noted the issue of low allowance of RM2,500 which is said to have not been on par with their jobs.

"After 2008, the state government emphasised on the transparency and the council members were not involved in the tender committee, therefore the allowance should be on par with the works done," he added.

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