The Perak Barisan Nasional government has decided to maintain the 70:30 formula for the appointment of local councillors, first introduced by the Pakatan Rakyat last year.

Under the formula, 70 per cent of local councillors would be political appointees while the balance would be made up of individuals from NGOs and professional bodies.

mah hang soon According to The Star today, Perak exco member Dr Mah Han Soon revealed that the selection of new state local councillors would be done next month.

“Application forms will be available from March 3 and interested applicants have until March 9 to submit their forms,” said Mah, whose portfolio oversees local government.

If Perak BN follows through, this would make them the first BN state government to implement such a policy.

The report also quotes Mah calling on Taiping local councillors to resign “gracefully”.

'BN is politically bankrupt'

“When Pakatan Rakyat took over as the state government last year, all Barisan Nasional local councillors resigned voluntarily,” said Mah.

The Taiping Municipal Council is the sole local government which has a councillor line-up that was sworn-in, on Feb 3, before the political turmoil in Peak erupted.

nizar banned from enter office 100209 nga kor ming In an immediate response, Mah’s predecessor, Nga Kor Ming has accused the BN state government of being a “mere copycat” for emulating the 70:30 formula.

“They rob the people of their elected government and then copy the policies practised by Pakatan. It shows BN is politically bankrupt,” he told Malaysiakini.

Nga also brushed off Mah’s calls for Taiping councillors to resign, adding that they were legally sworn-in.

“To give way to BN’s unlawful government would be an insult to democracy and the spirit of the Federal Constitution,” he said.

A check with several councillors in Taiping revealed that they are continuing their duties as usual but are complaining that a full council meeting had yet to be called.