Disabled want more reps in councilsBy STUART MICHAEL and FAZLEENA AZIZ
THE INDEPENDENT Living and Training Centre is disappointed with the Selangor government for appointing only three disabled representatives out of the 288 councillors for the state.
According to its president, Francis Siva, only Anthony Thanasayan, Alan Tan and Mesari Jasman were appointed as councillors to serve at the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ), Klang Municipal Council (MPK) and the Kuala Langat District Council (MDKL) respectively.
Francis said the disabled community threw their support behind Pakatan Rakyat in 2008 thinking their grouses would be addressed but sadly their plight remained very much the same.
“We appealed to them to appoint at least one disabled councillor for each of the 12 local governments but our call fell on deaf ears,” said Francis, adding that only a disabled person would know about the problems faced by the group.
“There are many issues affecting the disabled group which have yet to be resolved. This includes problems such as proper access to toilets, ramps and walkways.
“The councils have not made any significant changes. They (Pakatan Rakyat) are treating us more like a charity organisation instead of giving us an opportunity to have a say in the council,” said Francis.
Meanwhile, Kota Damansara assemblyman Dr Nasir Hashim expressed disappointment that the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) representative had been dropped from the MBPJ line-up.
He said the issue had been brought up to Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim and state chairman for local government Ronnie Liu.
Dr Nasir said Khalid took note of the matter and promised to resolve it while Liu gave his word that the PSM representative in MBPJ would not be removed.
“Similar incidents have also happened with the NGO representation in councils, where many local authorities had their NGO representatives replaced by political party members.
“We urge the Mentri Besar to keep his word and rectify the matter as soon as possible,” he said.
“We have given several names and if they are not happy with the nominees, they should have made it known to us,” he said.
Dr Nasir said he did not understand why PSM was overlooked this time around and hoped the state government would resolve the matter.
1 comment:
only the Disabled will no their needs
able bodies don't know our needs so each and every council must have a Disabled in their technical team to have the council to be Disable free
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