Great Urgency to Reform the Local Government

 

        Today is February 3. Two things that caught my attention when I woke up this morning was an article by Rosli Khan about corruption and the third tier of government. After reading this article, I am trying to connect with Rosli as he and I share similar passions on all three areas - corruption, local government and public transportation. 

        The second thing was something more heart-warming in the form of this birthday card personally hand drawn and kept secret from me until this morning. Although I get this every year, the fact that it was quietly placed on my bed, it still came to me as a pleasant surprise. 

More Voices Heard Now

        After sending out Rosli's article to a number of people in the present government, including those who have retired from civil service, I received another article written by Lee Lam Thye speaking on the same topic: Local Government.

        I also received another article sent to me by Imraz Ikhbal, the voice whom you heard recently about the Mandarin orange petty trader. It is another article by Emmanuel Joseph asking why the pundits are wasting so much time on Nurul Izzah's appointment as senior advisor to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. The pundits should focus on what is more important when talking about corruption and nepotism.

        I may have been the lone voice all this while, but what I received in just one morning shows clearly that I am not the only one pushing for revamp in the local government. Being the third-tier government, the local councils play a very significant role in affecting our livelihood. 

        In fact, a journalist friend of mine, Charles Moreira has started his blog Selangor Scheiss even earlier than mine, Surat Terbuka Kepada Menteri Besar Selangor. Charles is like me. He is what he describes "an opposition supporter even before PH but now am skeptical of BN, PH and PN." His reasons are the same as mine. Make no mistake and mark my word: what we experience every day with our local councils is how we evaluate the government of the day. 

        What Rosli and Lam Thye expressed in their articles resonate with me, especially after I myself have mentioned tirelessly in several of my blogs that the local government has to be reformed. After being tipped off, I went to check out what a particular local council has done to the signboard. See this blog post. 

    A New Ministry but Will It Deliver?

        I am glad that Anwar has tasked Nga Kor Ming to head the Ministry of Local Government and Development. In what was previously Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the change of name shows the emphasis that Anwar and Nga are now placing on the importance of reforming the local government. 

        Time, my friend, waits for no man. As pointed out by DAP supremo, Lim Kit Siang, the unity government has to act fast and decisively. There is no better time than now since the Unity Government is in place with a good position to amend the laws and the Federal Constitution, with its near two-third majority in parliament. 

        It is also time for the good lawmakers to vote for the reforms, because it will benefit the people they serve, unless of course, they are in parliament with the hope of being in government and continue to plunder the country's wealth. Any good lawmaker with a good conscience should support the reforms that would benefit the rakyat. 

        Therefore, it goes without saying that Minister Azalina Othman has an important task to do -- to include amendments to the law in order to reform the local government. Rosli has pointed out some loopholes that need to be included in the law reforms. Without that, she would fail in doing her job. While I tried to engage with her privately and she chooses otherwise, I have no choice but to engage with her in public. 

       For convenience of those reading this article, here is what Rosli wrote in his article:

Local authorities are a closed service authority, where staff and workers are hired directly by the authority itself, and are not transferable to other government agencies, pensionable and cannot be terminated. 

However, the position of head of the authority is reserved for administrative and diplomatic service (PTD) officers only.

This is a public service policy which we have adopted and practiced for many years.

       It is hoped that the ministers who have been picked by Anwar will now be humble and listen to the people. Their job is to serve the people, instead of gloating over their 'reward' being made cabinet ministers. Otherwise, they become another kitchen cabinet to be dumped by the people. 

        In fact, most of them do not even deserve the positions as ministers and deputy ministers, until they have proven that they are doing a good job. This applies to those in all the previous governments, not only the Unity Government we have now. 

        In the past governments, I have to say that none of the ministers in charge of local government really did a good job to deal with the third-tier government. I am referring to people as early as Ting Chew Pei in his capacity as Minister of Housing and Local Government. 

        And at the State Government level, from as early as people like Tang See Hang, who was the Selangor State Exco in charge of local government. This was the time when I was forced to be an activist; before that, I was blissfully ignorant. 

Revamp Should Extend to State Level

        Talking about Little Napoleons, in some cases, even till today, instead of solving people's problems on the ground, local councils are used by the politicians and Menteri Besar to kill off businesses. We see this in Kedah. We see this in Pahang, too.

        Currently, I am still looking to the Deputy Prime Minister, Fadillah Yusof being a peacemaker himself, together with the strictness exhibited by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi towards his party member, for the problem faced by Tanah Aina Eco-resort in the state of Pahang to be resolved.

        Anwar is also fully aware of the issues with the Selangor State Government to date. It would be in the interest of the state Pakatan Harapan for Anwar to step in and solve the issues involving the current state exco. What Selangorians want is a state government that serves the people, not bullying them or giving all sorts of excuses not to be transparent with issues such as the Bukit Lagong case. 

        I submit that it is in the interest of any future governments, whether Pakatan Harapan, Perikatan Nasional, Barisan Nasional or even an Independent Majority government, that once the local and state government reforms are put in place, future governments, the rakyat will find no reasons to whack the federal government because of their daily experiences with poor governance and corruption. 

        Many Metro journalists will be out of job once we have a thorough revamp of the local and state governments. After all, who wants to drive on a road riddled with potholes, or drive through flashfloods? Ministers and parliamentarians would not even have to go to the ground to try to solve problems caused by the lackadaisical attitude of local councils. 

        Until then, I would not agree with Tony Pua who chided his former MCA opponent, Chew Mei Fun, calling her a "Longkang MP." Come to think of it, Pua deserves to be known as Ivory Tower MP. I hope both of them make peace and start to focus on serving the people.