locally elected councillors

[XXXtupai]

The PKR mentioned this subject a few times. Will this ever happen in the 5 states or it is just another Hot Air talk by the PKR politiicans...the PKR appointed publicity crazy real estate agent councillor in MPSJ, is a good example of where things can go awfully wrong in my community.



XXXtupai-blowin' hot air2

[pywong]

Tupai,

Watch out for interview with Ronnie Liu to be put up under FACE-OFF WITH NCN.

[MR]

I have to agree with Tupai. What in the world are any of the local councilors doing? I don't see anything new happening. Streets are still unclean. Street lights are still not working in many areas. Rubbish is still being strewn at low cost apartments.

Where is the report card?

If a local councilor cannot work, then resign and stop wasting the taxpayers money!

MR

[pywong]

What do you expect for RM 500 per month? You pay peanuts, you get monkeys. We need to revamp the whole local council system, get full-time professional local councillors, reduce the number, pay them properly, say RM 5K per month. For MPSJ, 10 councillors are enough. They need to review all the staff in MPSJ, decide who to keep, who to sack and which areas need strengthening.

It has taken UMNO 45 years to run the local councils into the ground. And mind you, MPSJ is reputedly one of the better-run councils. You have not seen the others yet.

The other issue to consider is that rubbish removal has been taken over at Federal level and farmed out to their cronies. The State can't touch them. So rubbish is not MPSJ's responsibility anymore.

Suggestion: Instead of condemning, let's get hold of the councillors, sit down with them, find out their problems, work out some solutions, and campaign for it to be implemented. My gut feeling is that ultimate responsibility lies with Ronnie Liu. Let's wait for the interview to be published.

[chakngoon.ng]

Before the elections, PR said that they would have elected local councils. After the elections, they say that there are legal impediments to local council elections. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, we (Michael Ravi, PY Wong, and I) decided on the next best thing that we could do: Monitor our local councillors. We met and came up with a proposal on how to monitor MPSJ councillors and submitted it to Ronnie Liu a couple of months ago. He is the Committee Chairman of the on local government in Selangor. We did not hear from him. On Wed (or was it Thur?) we met with him to find out why. While I am preparing a transcript of that meeting, let me share with you our proposal on how to monitor the councillors. Please see attachment.

Ng Chak Ngoon

[rocky]

Federal law may not allow local elections by PR states. But that doesn't mean PR states should remain quiet and the do the same thing BN does. They must find a way around this and show they mean business. PR must make all effort have local elections and pushing for change in law in parliament is one. PR buat kerja, do not do a Badawi on us.

[pcyeoh]

If Pakatan Rakyat is unable to hold local election, to show good faith they should only nominate political appointees to be part of the 30% of the council. As it is, they form two third majority. This is a slap in the face of the rakyat. I also heard that there were squabbles among themselves that delay the forming of the council. At the end of the so called scrutinising and shortlisting, we still have the shorter end of the stick when we start to see their true colours especially the two in Perak and we have one in MPSJ. And instead of just go and do the work and show us the results, they lost so much time korek korek korek. What do they expect to achieve? And what is the idea of a one year term? Is it to allow as many political appointees to have a feel of being a councillor? What can one do within one year?

I disagree about the argument on RM 500 allowance. If it is peanuts, then why take up the position? Complaining that the allowance is nothing to shout about is a very lame excuse. There are many who would want to serve even for free. Or is it that they think there is a pot of gold at the end of their tenure? When I asked the councillor appointed to serve my area why he is wasting so much time to set up the Jawatan Kuasa Penduduk (JKP) that PKR fella arrogantly told me off. "You ingat saya senang dan ada masa kah. You tak tahu berapa komplain saya kena selasai. I will do it in my own time. Not even Hannah Yeoh can direct me to do it" And the way he talked and walked was not much difference from the UMNO guys who were once councillors. What I cannot tolerate about politicians is their arrogance. And some of them in the Pakatan are slowly rearing their ugly heads.

[racheljansz]

If Pakatan Rakyat is unable to hold local election, to show good faith they should only nominate political appointees to be part of the 30% of the council.
Would agree with you for the limit of 30% quota but it is not easy to fill the other 70% with competent and unbiased candidates.

Good thing I am not in charge or else I’ll put 100% my own appointed people in!


It has taken UMNO 45 years to run the local councils into the ground…...They need to review all the staff in MPSJ, decide who to keep, who to sack and which areas need strengthening. To erase that 45 years you have to get 100% mandate.
At this rotting stage, democratic means of getting things done may not be effective or fast enough.
I hope you can prove me wrong.
I would think a lot of things are wrong, work systems not in place or not practiced.
I bet you that ‘work performance and its review’ are not an essential part of the staff’s job and the local council,
Or done just for the sake of doing it.

The allowance at RM500 is definitely unattractive for many bona fide councilors materials.
Yes there are people who will serve for FREE
But, not many and, not without ulterior motives for self gains only.
To me RM500 is just opens the job to corruption and abused.
I wish we could have more of pcyeoh. :D

There is a need to educate the general public on what are the expectations of a local council and the councilor roles.
How else can they know who should be the councilor or what's the expectation?
It should be part of our young citizen education but I guess you already know the reason why it is not!
My hope is for the whoever in-charge get the house in order - develop systems, jobs’ description, educate both the ‘internal (staff) and external customer’, and get them ready for local election by end of 2009

My 0 sen (round down from 2sen)

[pywong]

Rachel,

The whoever-is-in-charge means "we". WE are in charge and WE have to take charge. We cannot stand by and let the politicians run our lives anymore (and run it down to the level of Zimbabwe). WE have to tell them what we want done and if they are not competent enough to do it, then WE do it.

[pywong]

If Pakatan Rakyat is unable to hold local election, to show good faith they should only nominate political appointees to be part of the 30% of the council. As it is, they form two third majority. This is a slap in the face of the rakyat. I also heard that there were squabbles among themselves that delay the forming of the council. At the end of the so called scrutinising and shortlisting, we still have the shorter end of the stick when we start to see their true colours especially the two in Perak and we have one in MPSJ. And instead of just go and do the work and show us the results, they lost so much time korek korek korek. What do they expect to achieve? And what is the idea of a one year term? Is it to allow as many political appointees to have a feel of being a councillor? What can one do within one year?

I disagree about the argument on RM 500 allowance. If it is peanuts, then why take up the position? Complaining that the allowance is nothing to shout about is a very lame excuse. There are many who would want to serve even for free. Or is it that they think there is a pot of gold at the end of their tenure? When I asked the councillor appointed to serve my area why he is wasting so much time to set up the Jawatan Kuasa Penduduk (JKP) that PKR fella arrogantly told me off. "You ingat saya senang dan ada masa kah. You tak tahu berapa komplain saya kena selasai. I will do it in my own time. Not even Hannah Yeoh can direct me to do it" And the way he talked and walked was not much difference from the UMNO guys who were once councillors. What I cannot tolerate about politicians is their arrogance. And some of them in the Pakatan are slowly rearing their ugly heads.


Good points, pc, although I may not agree fully with them. Keep the councillors on their toes. I find it quite helpful if you can hold their feet to the fire. :D

[XXXtupai]

as far as i can see now...this ronnie guy is just another reflection of the old barisan politikus wannabe...Puhlisss, dont give me the crap about how busy he or HIS appointed councillors are...and i also dont care if the rm500 is enuff or not...If ronnie and his bunch of cronies find the devil's kitchen is too hot for the pittance, get out and dont try to pretend to be the chef!

Ronnie the bossman in pkr on this issue, caN U Walk the talk! Else shuddup! just go BUAT KERJA! and Whatever the kerja that u think u do, U must be seen doing it! Just stop treating me like another idiotic ignoramus fool locked away in a darkroom! Bcos it takes a bigger one to recognise another! >:(


keith khoo
ss17

[pywong]

[quote=XXXtupai ]
as far as i can see now...this ronnie guy is just another reflection of the old barisan politikus wannabe...Puhlisss, dont give me the crap about how busy he or HIS appointed councillors are...and i also dont care if the rm500 is enuff or not...If ronnie and his bunch of cronies find the devil's kitchen is too hot for the pittance, get out and dont try to pretend to be the chef!

Ronnie the bossman in pkr on this issue, caN U Walk the talk! Else shuddup! just go BUAT KERJA! and Whatever the kerja that u think u do, U must be seen doing it! Just stop treating me like another idiotic ignoramus fool locked away in a darkroom! Bcos it takes a bigger one to recognise another! >:(keith khoo ss17[quote]

Keith, what are doing up at 3:29am? Cannot sleep?

What's this: Ronnie the bossman in pkr? I thought he is from DAP.

Do you want to get involved in local council watch? We are trying to set up one.

RM 500 allowance: Let's get real. This is not enough. If you want performance, you pay. You either pay upfront or you pay under the table. The reason the previous batch of councillors could do it is manifested in the decorative lamps, the 3K project, the White Elephant Metal Palms (Millennium Square), advertising bill boards, the conversion of public or residential land to commercial land and release to cronies, etc... The alternative is to appoint only financially-independent individuals with proven integrity and capability. Not many around, I think.

It is easy to ventilate and bash. I suggest it is more productive to come up with something more substantive. You don't want PR to fail and let UMNO come back, do you?

[XXXtupai]

dap, pkr, umno, mca, mic whatever after awhile, they are ALL the same lah.

rm500 is RM500...why bitch about the pay when these XXX (i cant even think of a word to describe them without it sounding downright obscene)
WANTED the post so badly. I have yet to see anyone forced to becoming a councillor, if refused kena chop the blurryhead off! ...It could be rm5000 or even rm15000 for all i care. They will still bitch and award yet another decorative lampost project or Millenium Sotong structure at the roundabout.

Advertising billboard done right, is a good idea. They generate hefty income and with our assessment etcetc, the state gomen/council can pay these XXX at market value...and if these XXX dont perform...chop their blurryhead off! if corrupted, haul their sorry asses to jail and do not pass Go!

sori ah, Whats this about local council watch? then again, I dont think i have the temperament to whisper niceties when I face2face with XXX esp the those "...senang...yang ada masa' type of XXX.

There are already so many substantive suggestions brought forth again and again...and they are really sounding like broken record.

Its bedtime coming up...

Yang Banyak tidor latotupai

p/s I slept and woke up already lah! I tido at 7.30pm-2am. ;D PYW , Y u used so big a font? I can still read fine prints leh. ;D

[XXXtupai]

Suggestion: Instead of condemning, let's get hold of the councillors, sit down with them, find out their problems, work out some solutions, and campaign for it to be implemented. My gut feeling is that ultimate responsibility lies with Ronnie Liu. Let's wait for the interview to be published.


The above is the Greatest idea since sliced bread....but this ronny guy got time for this or not? I am sure u dont go "ingat dia senang dan x ada kerja'...Bad move!

When is the interview? Who is the mode? whats the questions to be asked? Whats the perimeter? Its a face2face in kopi shop or an email interview?

Yang Blur XXXtupai

[pywong]

PYW , Y u used so big a font? I can still read fine prints leh. ;D
Not for you. For me. My group all old foggies. Knees gone. Eyes gone. ;D

[pywong]

rm500 is RM500...why bitch about the pay when these XXX (i cant even think of a word to describe them without it sounding downright obscene)
WANTED the post so badly. I have yet to see anyone forced to becoming a councillor, if refused kena chop the blurryhead off! ...It could be rm5000 or even rm15000 for all i care. They will still bitch and award yet another decorative lampost project or Millenium Sotong structure at the roundabout.

Kawan, people work for money. If they can perform, money is a small issue. Let's not quibble about that. The important thing is to get PERFORMANCE and TIMELY SERVICE.

[pywong]

When is the interview? Who is the mode? whats the questions to be asked? Whats the perimeter? Its a face2face in kopi shop or an email interview?
Interview done. Waiting for interviewer to do his job and submit report. Patience. :)

[XXXtupai]

Not for you. For me. My group all old foggies. Knees gone. Eyes gone. ;D
[/quote]

;D ;D ;D BUT mind sharper than croc razor! And tongue quicker than lightning ;D ;D ;D

I do *tabik* you guys for this initiative...

And I do agree that Councillors need to be paid a decent private sector package. And if they blur sotong move/act outta line or vested interest or act like lansilanyong, they will face the music of a hefty paycut or a boot to the sorry ass or a CBT charge st8 2 jail...With such a KPI strictly enforced then and only then, will the good men stand up and be counted... ;)

[pywong]

The fact that we have so many councillors (24) is a very sad indictment on the town council. If MPSJ is doing its job properly, you hardly need any local councillors. The problem is that the system is broken by 45 years of BN abuse. The staff they employ in MPSJ itself need to be reviewed to see whether they are up to scratch. If not, they should be replaced.

I look at the standard of road maintenance in Subang Jaya and I can tell they are sleeping. Road maintenance is a specialist work and should be centralized at state level so that competent and experienced engineers can be stationed to look after all the roads. It is not economical to provide such an engineer for every local council. It will be too expensive and inefficient.

I made an offer to a councillor to help MPSJ review the road system. Up to now, they haven't come back to me after more than a month. I offered Ronnie Liu in Apr this year to help review the engineering standards for all the local councils in Selangor. Each council has its own standards apparently. He has also not responded.

I had suggested to him at the beginning, appoint only professionals as local councillors - people who can run the council itself. Then they assess the local council staff to see if they are competent. Keep the good ones and let the bad ones go. Tighten up the system. It will take only 2 years. After that, PR can appoint all their cronies and kakis to be local councillors.

But no! They have to give their supporters those posts as a reward. What reward! It's only 500 bucks a month. Everyone who is involved will lose money if he is doing his job honestly. Now, see what have we got?

Sometimes, we wonder what our leaders are thinking.

[XXXtupai]

Residents in SJ should all have the same passion as PY. The penultimate objective is having a place that can give us a better quality of life, in a well planned residential area, not withstanding.

So, what are we going to do about the current scenario. It does look like majority of the councillors in mpj, got their post as a reward for political contribution. The rm500 is of course a token. It merely encourage dishonesty and room for corruption and construction of Millenium aluminium structures at empty spaces.

All councillors nationwide, make more moolah from his/her current job/bizz and the council post opens up more room for extras...Again, the pkr/dap/pas whatever opposition should just get on the act to do proper governing at ALL levels...the future election results will be testimonial of their today's admin.

I am not holding my breath for drastic improvements.

[pywong]

All councillors nationwide, make more moolah from his/her current job/bizz and the council post opens up more room for extras...Again, the pkr/dap/pas whatever opposition should just get on the act to do proper governing at ALL levels...the future election results will be testimonial of their today's admin.

Tupai, I wouldn't be so fast as to condemn all the councillors. I am sure there are good ones. My point is that we shouldn't expect everyone to be so altruistic as to work for free. RM 500 is as good as free. Basically, people don't owe us a living.

While we are at it, it is also useful to remember our vote does not entitle us to sit on our butts and demand that the elected representative do everything for us. They have only two hands and twenty four hours a day! We have to do our part also. Complaining does not count.

My point is:

We should pay the councillors properly.
Monitor them properly according to an agreed set of criteria.
And if they don't perform or go out of line, we sack them.

Performance counts.

[chakngoon.ng]

Ronnie Liu is the Selangor Exco member in charge of local government. On 8 October, we interviewed him to find out why there is no local council election even though PR promised it during the run up to the last general elections. The report on this interview is posted as an attachment under Face-off with NCN [http://tindakmalaysia.com/tm_forums2008/index.php/board,15.0.html].

Meanwhile I am also attaching here our proposal to him on the monitoring of local councillors. We would like your comments.


Ng Chak Ngoon

[pywong]

Q & A with Khalid Ibrahim
http://dinmerican.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/malaysiakinis-qa-session-with-selangor-menteri-besar-tan-sri-khalid-ibrahim/
25 Oct 2008 MalaysiaIndru editor Ji Wi Kathaiah

**** Local Government
There’s always talk about how the worst corruption occurrs at the local councils. They have also not been people-friendly. People go there, the officers go on doing as they like, people wait outside for hours, and there are a lot of problems there. When Pakatan took over this state, people expected some good changes, but some are saying it has not changed as expected.

Unwinding 50 years of bad habits is not that easy. What we have done has been in two parts. One is the administration and team-building part, where everyone works on the development and workings of the local government.

The second part is in ensuring the decision-makers have no conflict of interests. What we have done is that non-exectuve members of local councils are not allowed to be in the tender committee. That means all paid officials are in the tender committees, but all selected (officials) will do the monitoring on all the processes and decision makings of the tender process. The other side, the rest of the council, will act as oversight.

The oversight committee makes sure everything’s in order. Once they have made the decision, they review and make sure that they are in order, and so forth. This has already started. Of course there are teething problems. Some of the non-executive officials selected felt that they were not being recognised. They say they can handle it. But we wanted to test this idea. The question of check and balance, we wanted to test it.

That, I think, has started to lead to more openness. The non-council members would say, I want the tender to be posted, I want it to be open. Why did you give this? There are a lot of questions. If we continue to do that, we will minimise (corruption). I’m not saying we can eliminate it, but we can minimise it.

But we get into some very complicated situations. There are some contracts worth RM20,000 and below that will not be totally done on a tender basis. If you tender everything, there is so much work to be done for a small job. So they have limited tender. Not open tenders, but limited tenders, for those contract of less than RM20,000.

But there’s the problem with Class F contractors. Class F contractors are in limited numbers, and there was a huge uproar over the perception that we were giving the contracts back to the same people (who benefitted from the previous state administration).

I have requested (exco in charge of Islamic affairs, Malay culture, infrastructure and public amenities) Dr Hassan Mohd Ali to get all those interested in getting contracts of this nature to register with Selangor Public Works Department so that we can give opportunities to a lot of people who do not even have this Class F (status) as the federal government had closed this thing.

There will be opportunities for other people. It takes one or two months to get this going. We are trying to resolve it. But for tenders above that, (the open tender process) seems already in place.

Open and transparent tenders?

Open and I think we are very proud to say we get value for money. There is no such thing as people getting a tender and getting 30 or 40 percent out of it. We get value for money. Hopefully, if things are managed well, we not only save the local government money, but also, they get real work being done. Cutting grass, for example, they get real acres per amount of money they pay.

There was a tangle over the issue of billboards…

It’s a big issue. I don’t think it’s now an easy issue to solve because the contracts have been signed, and for whatever reason, the parties also have a right to take a case against the other party. But we established that it really is an unfair contact where you have an annual approval but can get it extend for 10 years. Which means you ignore the annual approval because you have it extended for 10 years with automatic (yearly) approvals.

But all these (reviews) require reading the agreements and so on. In the end, we decided that the issuance of TOLs (temporary occupation licence) for that will be done by the local councils. Before, it was done at the district office. Now there will be no duplicating. Now, we say, ‘No. Now, there’s only an annual contract.’

These are the small issue that we have to unwind. I think unwinding agreements is quite tedious.

Yes. If it is proven to have been fraudulently done, then…

Not only when it has been proven to be fraudulent, but also when they’re proven to have negative effects. Because of the bureaucracy, the so-called mandated delegation, some said they signed in good faith.

So we have an issue. Very quickly, before the end of the year, we should have resolve all this. A few local councils have resolved their problems.

Is anybody supervising all this very strictly?

Oh, yes. In fact, the local council members’ (contracts) are up for review. We say, ‘you are only appointed for one year subject to review. We understand the expectations and also the tasks of the councillors.

In view of the expectations of the people towards council members, there is a greater demand now that there be elected councillors.

I think the main reasons for not introducing elections for council members is the costs and administration of the elections. We would have liked this activity to be done by the Election Commission because of the costs and all that. Then it will be from the consolidated account (granted to the states from the federal government). After all, it is for the benefit of democracy.

Have you made such demands to the Election Commission?

Yes, we have, but they say they are still struggling with (handling) the general elections.

But they wasted money (RM2 million) by buying the indelible ink and not using it.

If we want people to do work, we cannot hit them that hard. They won’t talk to us…

But people expect you to have local council elections…

Yeah. We wanted to do that, but there is a cost to it.

If it is for a good purpose, then you must have it.

Yeah, but will the public be willing to pay for it? This is the bigger thing. I think there are local councils which have the economies of scale.

Why don’t they combine (to conduct elections?)

Because of the district zoning and allocations, you cannot.Every year, every six months, we have the general meeting of states and federal govt with regards to local councils. We are working towards finding ways and means to resolve this problem of electability, and so forth.

What’s the reaction so far of the federal government?

It’s quite lukewarm.

In the Federal Territory, you are doing very well, with all these opposition people sitting there. They have already set a trend and a model for others to follow.

But even my experience as a parliamenterian at Bandar Tun Razak, I sometimes get frustrated and I have voiced my opinions of the quality of the (Kuala Lumpur) mayor…

Yes, he seems to be traveling overseas (http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/91718) more often than…

more than he is willing to work with parliamentarians and understand what the public wants a check and balance, if they feel the mayor is not telling them the real story. He has, in some ways, ignored all this. But in short..

The ten of you can bring him down, can’t you?

No. We have no power.

But as parliamentarians, you can raise the issue.

Yes. I think it’s getting on his nerves now. Coming back to this (issue of local elections), hopefully, we can class local councils in different groups (according to size), then we will do elections for the big ones and then on for the smaller ones. We are working on that.

By the time we are ready for the next general election, this can be arranged?

Well, we’ll see. I’m expecting it can be done.

The Indah Water sewerage services cost of RM6 per month. People are asking, when we pay assessment, all these charges for the services should be included.

I think we need really to review the privatisation of utilities. I think this is the bigger issue. I must say, the reason why our local councils do not have enough money for other things is due partly to the privatisation of waste disposal. At least one-third of it has gone to private pockets.

I have refused to pay because I told them my assessment includes payment for that service. For that, they have been sending me lawyer notices after lawyer notices.

But we, as a state, cannot act as individuals. We have to follow the steps. But I have voiced out and acted on it. We have to reorganise to make sure the customer (ratepayers) are taken care of. The customer must get value for money. Customers don’t mind paying, so long as they get what they pay for. That’s how we look at it.

As citizens when you have a problem, you should go straight to the government department. But still, even Pakatan says ‘We are solving the problems for this number of people. We got this done.’ Don’t you think this must be discouraged and encourage people to go straight to the government departments instead of through political parties?

I expect the civil servants to do their job for the people. That is my attitude. The more efficient they are, the more involvement is needed of other people. Of course, there are issues where government may not be able to appreciate. Civil servants are bound to the acts and ordinances, and all that. But that doesn’t mean they would not be able to collect all the issues and problems.

Having said that, there is also a case for the so-called councillors who are right now not elected or the assemblymen and parliamentarians to listen to these problems. The government servant will not have the luxury of time to listen to all irregular cases. For example, there is a dispute between two families with regards to the ownership of a land. When it comes to the civil servant, the civil servant will not have the luxury of time to listen to 20 people. Those issues need to be handled by people who are having a sense of how to do it. What we are going to do is, all the issues like paying rent and collecting pensions should not be handled by the assemblymen and so forth.

I think the concept for the future: the government goes to the people. The concept symbolised in the laptop. The district officer goes to the small village or coffee shop, opens his laptop, then resolves the issue. In the future, people will not go to the (government) office, the office comes to the people.

The people fear going to the government department.

The role of the KL mayor, for example, should be to go to the people rather than the people going to him. Then, the menteri besar can have a meeting not only at his office but he can go to Ijok and have his meeting there. But it takes a bit of time.

You try to create environment where people can go to the staff at the department to talk to them freely, but they fear making decisions (on their own).

Because they were not trained to decide. For example, if you go to the banks, it’s now an open thing and they will sort out for you your problems. We train the receptionist not to become only the receptionist, but to solve many of your cases and look at your problems.

We have not trained civil servants to do this. The way civil servants are assessed is on how many mistakes they make - not how much effort they do. As if when you don’t do wrong, and as long as you are not caught sleeping, you are alright. How do we change from that setting to the (optimal) productivity mode? Once people go into the productivity mode, there will be some error in what they’re doing.

I’m experiencing the limits of it. One of the greater limitations is the lack of information technology in this exercise. Once info-technology is incorporated in this exercise, then the implementation will become easier.

But for the technology to reach the ordinary people will take a longer time.

At one stage, people were saying it is impossible. But in 1979-1980, I had the experience of trying to record all the savers in Amanah Saham (Nasional). People said it cannot be done. After one year, I had 1.5 million clients. Manually, if you do it, you will be dead. But we showed: by Dec 30, we closed our accounts, updated all the books and accounts of unit holders by Dec 31, and by Jan 2, every account was updated and they were able to transact at any place in the whole of this country. It can be done. Of course, initially, it is a nightmare. But in the future…

Now we come to the issue of the expectations of Indians. I don’t want to make it an Indian matter but a Malaysian issue, where people think of the Pakatan having promised a lot with regards to licensing problems and a host of other issues. But now they say they seem to have been forgotten.

I think the issue is, we want to establish a system of priority of support: what we should do, who we should give priority to, and all that. Last time, the priority was what the government felt should be (the priority). If they wanted at one point to help the Indians, they’ll help the Indians. If they wanted to help the Chinese, they’ll help the Chinese. If they want to help the Malays, they’ll help the Malays.

What we are trying to establish a system where those people who need to be helped must be helped. Therefore, the requirement we set is to make sure that for the needy - we have benchmarked at those earning RM1,500 and below - I will have a database of such people and families. Then, I will give priority to those (earning) RM1,500 and below to be helped irrespective of colour or politics. That is starting to come into the picture.

The Ampang temple demolition. I want to ask a specific question: Have you given instructions to all local councils that it shall not be done?

We have, we have. After the Ampang case, we went back to everyone (and said): any demolition of places of worship must get the approval of the exco. They cannot demolish, though they can identify (which should be demolished). They can work with these people, give them notice so that those seeking to establish a place of worship without approval or on government land or forest reserve will either have to move out or make an application to the state (to be approved). The exco will have a committee to review it. No approval will be given at the local council level.

We will standardise the forms and the trustees will have to write a letter to the state. We will fine them if they extend the temple without an application. Once they have applied, the exco committee will decide.

What about the Ampang temple demolition?

The demolition was only after the exco had decided (that no demolitions will occur without approval of the exco).

So you have given written directives to all local councils not to…

Not to demolish.

The deputy chair of the Ampang local council was suspended.

And he has already been reinstated.

Reinstated?
The exco for local councils suspended him for only one week.

So the suspension was meted out to him as a punishment?

Well, from our point of view, he had acted beyond, outside the directive. But it doesn’t mean his services should be terminated… you play hockey and you start hitting people, the referee will ask you to rest for 20 minutes.

They are talking of temples being on a list to be demolished…

Chinese temples…

Indian temples…

No, no. What we are doing is basically trying to legalise. The question of monitoring, well, if you are not legalised, then you have a problem. This is what it’s all about. And anybody who is not on the list of legal temples will feel they will be demolished. If we do not legalise, then we’ll have a problem in the future. Let’s say they are on TOL land. The state may have to consider granting them the title. We do want people to start building temples and then trying to get these legalised.

[besitai2007]

Things are not that much better in Subang Jaya, even after the elections. Look at the following:
(a) The road leading to the Asia Cafe from the wet market is one of the filthiest in Subang Jaya. Rubbish is thrown along sidewalks and drains. The last time my wife and I walked to the cafe we were apalled why the shops are not keeping their five-foot way clean? In my taman I do see the Bangladesh workers sweeping and cleaning the roads..at least that's a plus.
(b) Double parking problem is still bad in Taipan. Inconsiderate motorists are still blocking people's cars. You wonder why people don't want to park a bit further away and walk.. or even park in the multi-storey car park provided. They prefer to double park and harass others but join Fitness First.
(c) How often do we see a police patrol car? They seem to be a rare species in Subang Jaya. Their presence would have been a great help to deter crime.
(d) The Summit Crawl is still bad. Something has to be done to ease the traffic problem..source of which are the traffic lights near the NKVE exit. Which bright spark decided to install so many traffic lights at the junction? Isn't there a better solution.
(e) The third exit from Subang Jaya is not yet completed. Work on it seems to be progressing at a snail's pace. I still see the concrete structures half completed.
So how are our local councillors addressing these problems? RM500 surely not enough to pay for the cost of inspecting the troubled spots. ::)

[Isa Rahim]

>>>(b) Double parking problem is still bad in Taipan. Inconsiderate motorists are still blocking people's cars. You wonder why people don't want to park a bit further away and walk.. or even park in the multi-storey car park provided. They prefer to double park and harass others but join Fitness First.<<

Immediate towaway is the only way that can solve this. It's used successfully in London.

[pywong]

besitai2007,

Not all your points are the responsibility of the councillors.

Things are not that much better in Subang Jaya, even after the elections. Look at the following:
(a) The road leading to the Asia Cafe from the wet market is one of the filthiest in Subang Jaya. Rubbish is thrown along sidewalks and drains. The last time my wife and I walked to the cafe we were apalled why the shops are not keeping their five-foot way clean? In my taman I do see the Bangladesh workers sweeping and cleaning the roads..at least that's a plus.
Federal - Alam Flora

(b) Double parking problem is still bad in Taipan. Inconsiderate motorists are still blocking people's cars. You wonder why people don't want to park a bit further away and walk.. or even park in the multi-storey car park provided. They prefer to double park and harass others but join Fitness First.
MPSJ. They need to start issuing fines. Also public need to learn to be more civic-conscious.

(c) How often do we see a police patrol car? They seem to be a rare species in Subang Jaya. Their presence would have been a great help to deter crime.
Federal.

(d) The Summit Crawl is still bad. Something has to be done to ease the traffic problem..source of which are the traffic lights near the NKVE exit. Which bright spark decided to install so many traffic lights at the junction? Isn't there a better solution.
Are you referring to the interchange over the Kesas Highway at Summit? Has there been an increase in traffic lights.

(e) The third exit from Subang Jaya is not yet completed. Work on it seems to be progressing at a snail's pace. I still see the concrete structures half completed.
Federal project. Top secret. We can't seem to get to see the drawings. Could be under OSA. ;D

So how are our local councillors addressing these problems? RM500 surely not enough to pay for the cost of inspecting the troubled spots. ::)
We need to be aware of who is responsible for what.

[Isa Rahim]

(b) Double parking problem is still bad in Taipan. Inconsiderate motorists are still blocking people's cars. You wonder why people don't want to park a bit further away and walk.. or even park in the multi-storey car park provided. They prefer to double park and harass others but join Fitness First.
MPSJ. They need to start issuing fines. Also public need to learn to be more civic-conscious.
Nope, fines alone won't help. People will still be stuck. Immediate towaway + fine is the only way that can resolve the problem. And should the car get scratched, that's part of the punishment.

[pywong]

Things are not that much better in Subang Jaya, even after the elections. Look at the following:
(a) The road leading to the Asia Cafe from the wet market is one of the filthiest in Subang Jaya. Rubbish is thrown along sidewalks and drains. The last time my wife and I walked to the cafe we were apalled why the shops are not keeping their five-foot way clean? In my taman I do see the Bangladesh workers sweeping and cleaning the roads..at least that's a plus.
(b) Double parking problem is still bad in Taipan. Inconsiderate motorists are still blocking people's cars. You wonder why people don't want to park a bit further away and walk.. or even park in the multi-storey car park provided. They prefer to double park and harass others but join Fitness First.
(c) How often do we see a police patrol car? They seem to be a rare species in Subang Jaya. Their presence would have been a great help to deter crime.
(d) The Summit Crawl is still bad. Something has to be done to ease the traffic problem..source of which are the traffic lights near the NKVE exit. Which bright spark decided to install so many traffic lights at the junction? Isn't there a better solution.
(e) The third exit from Subang Jaya is not yet completed. Work on it seems to be progressing at a snail's pace. I still see the concrete structures half completed.
So how are our local councillors addressing these problems? RM500 surely not enough to pay for the cost of inspecting the troubled spots. ::)

Besitai,

Are you mixing up different departments and lumping them under MPSJ?
a. Rubbish removal: Is this under MPSJ or Alam Flora?
b. Double parking: Should be MPSJ's responsibility.
c. Police: They are not under MPSJ.
d. Summit Crawl: Should be MPSJ Engineering Dept. Question: Who appoints them? State or Federal. I am told the YDP and the senior officers are from the PSD and are untouchable.
e. 3rd exit from Subang Jaya: This is a Federal Govt project. Nothing to do with MPSJ.

In theory, the State should have full power over the local councils. But the Federal Govt has changed the laws such that they are the ones supplying the YDP and senior staff. That means if we have a corrupt officer around, neither the State nor the local councillors can touch the officers.

That means we have to wait for Anwar to take over before real changes get down.

[rocky]

(b) Double parking problem is still bad in Taipan. Inconsiderate motorists are still blocking people's cars. You wonder why people don't want to park a bit further away and walk.. or even park in the multi-storey car park provided. They prefer to double park and harass others but join Fitness First.
MPSJ. They need to start issuing fines. Also public need to learn to be more civic-conscious.
Nope, fines alone won't help. People will still be stuck. Immediate towaway + fine is the only way that can resolve the problem. And should the car get scratched, that's part of the punishment.
agree this is the best way.MPSJ should just do it.

[chakngoon.ng]

This problem about double parking is merely part of a wider problem of illegal and inconsiderate parking in which cars are parked at the owners’ whims and fancies even though they inconvenience to other road users. If you widen the scope of this problem further, you may even include driving down a one-way street in the illegal direction. You can probably expand this list of our motorists' wrong-doings but I think what we have now is enough to illustrate the more generalized problem of lack of discipline among Malaysians.

We all know that Singaporeans obey the laws better in Singapore, BUT only in Singapore. When they come over to Malaysia, they can be just as bad as Malaysians. Vice versa, Malaysians are pretty law abiding in Singapore. Therefore, it is clear that the root cause of lawlessness in Malaysia is simply the failure of the authorities (police, enforcement officers, etc.) to act.

What has this to do with local councils? For starters, the local councilors or local councils can get the police to enforce the law such as issuing summons or enforcing tow-away of illegally parked cars. How do we get our local councilors to listen to us on matters like this? Now that is the tough one. Anyone out there with suggestions?

Ng Chak Ngoon

[pywong]

How do we get our local councilors to listen to us on matters like this? Now that is the tough one. Anyone out there with suggestions?

Appoint more politicians to local councils. ;D This will make Bob happy.

In fairness, replacing these civil servants with politicians as YDP and Deputy YDP is a step in the right direction. Under UMNO, we have idiots from MPSJ promoted as mayors to bigger constituencies. This clearly shows that they reward political loyalty over competency

No to civil servants as Penang councillors
Athi Veranggan | Jan 3, 09 6:56pm

Civil servants will no longer be appointed as local councillors or heads of local municipalities in Penang under a new directive from the Pakatan Rakyat state government.

Instead, politicians will be appointed in their place.

The move will take effect by end of this month when the state government makes a fresh annual appointment of councillors for Penang island under the Pulau Pinang Municpal Council (MPPP) and for the mainland under the Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP).

The new step to replace civil servants with politicians is said to be towards restoring the ‘third vote’ or local government elections.

Both councils, with 24 councillors each, are currently headed by civil servants.

MPPP, meanwhile, has two councillors as heads of the northeast and southwest districts while MPSP has three councillors as heads of the Seberang Perai Utara, Tengah and Selatan districts.

The new policy effectively means that the current presidents of the councils and the five district officers would be replaced by politicians from the ruling Pakatan Rakyat coalition, thus making Penang the first state to drop civil servants as councillors.

......http://malaysiakini.com/news/95770