Harapan MPs urge FT minister to review 'cruel' move
Ten Harapan MPs in Kuala Lumpur and Labuan has urged Federal Territories Minister Annuar Musa to review a decision to terminate services of all Resident Representative Council (MPP) members under their constituencies.
In a joint statement, the 10 MPs said they were only informed today that the "highly unreasonable" and "cruel" move, in times of the Covid-19 crisis, has been in effect since Monday.
CORONAVIRUS | Ten Harapan MPs in Kuala Lumpur and Labuan have urged Federal Territories Minister Annuar Musa to review a decision to terminate services of all Resident Representative Council (MPP) members under their constituencies.
In a joint statement, the 10 MPs said they were only informed today that the "highly unreasonable" and "cruel" move, in times of the Covid-19 crisis, has been in effect since Monday.
"This is because since the MPP members were appointed in January last year, they have served the people of KL and Labuan regardless of race, religion or political beliefs.
"The people of KL and Labuan have known them and they expect assistance from the MPP members," said the MPs.
In a time of the global Covid-19 crisis and movement control order, the MPs noted that the MPP members were doing their part to assist the people in various aid distribution programme.
"Any changes would only delay the distribution of much-needed aid, particularly for the urban poor.
"Therefore, we urge Federal Territories Minister Annuar Musa to put the people's interests first and not terminate services of the existing MPP members," they said.
The 10 MPs are Tan Kok Wai (Cheras), Fahmi Fadzil (photo) (Lembah Pantai), Hannah Yeoh (Segambut), Teresa Kok (Seputeh), P Prabakaran (Batu), Lim Lip Eng (Kepong), Fong Kui Lun (Bukit Bintang) and Rozman Ismail (Labuan).
Earlier today, KL Mayor Anwar Zain in a letter issued instructions for MPP members to return the FT van being used; return all assets bought using their management grant; return all unspent management and activities grant to the Kuala Lumpur City Hall; close their official bank accounts, and submit a full report of their activities.
According to the letter, all related matters must be concluded by April 8.
The mayor also appended a formal letter from Annuar that informed the ministry's proposal to perform a restructuring exercise on existing MPP members in order to strengthen their function.
Meanwhile, Annuar in a Facebook post said the move was taken after his office received purported complaints of unsatisfactory services by MPP members, aside from non-compliance to guidelines.
Based on the reports from local authorities, Annuar said he found that there were "inactive MPPs" with no expenditure reports submitted for further scrutiny.
"Many MPPs appointed in 2019 did not submit even a single report to DBKL or their local authority, although they were provided with the regulations and methods of operations.
"Because the MPPs are given a large allocation and allowance, they are required to adhere to existing guidelines, on top of informing their local authorities of their expenditures," he said.
Noting the importance of the MPP to the people, Annuar reassured that the process of appointing its new members will not take longer than 14 days.
"I don't like to postpone so it will not take longer than 14 days, and (after that) the MPP will function again.
"In fact the (Harapan) MPs can propose any names to be appointed into the MPP," he said.
Keep up with the latest information on the outbreak in the country with Malaysiakini's free Covid-19 tracker.
