Friday June 24, 2011

NGO reps in Selangor feel cheated over broken promise

By EDWARD R. HENRY
edward@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: Municipal councillors representing non-governmental organisations in Selangor are outraged that there are now only 10 of them.

They feel cheated as they were promised a quarter of or 72 council seats after Pakatan Rakyat's victory in the state in the 2008 general election.

Instead, only 17 NGO councillors had been appointed.

Now, although Selangor boasts that there are 71 such councillors, only 10 of them are truly independent.

Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations and Professional Appointed Councillors (Conpac) chairman Tan Jo Hann said the Pakatan state government had backtracked on its election promise to engage people through NGO representatives not aligned to political parties.

“We were promised 30% during the election campaign but after Pakatan came into power in Selangor, 25% of the 288 posts in 12 local councils were agreed upon.

“But the 25% or 72 NGO councillor quota never materialised,” he said, adding that the 72 councillors must be free of political influence.

He said that for the first term of 2008-2009, only 17 NGO representatives were appointed councillors, and the number was maintained in the 2009-2010 term.

“However, representation shrank to 10 councillors for the term running from 2010 to December 2011.

“The people can see for themselves that the percentage in the first two terms was 5.9%. Now, it is 3.5%, and not 25% as announced in state government brochures,” he said.

Tan, who is also a Subang Jaya municipal councillor, said the interests of ratepayers could not be served with the current representation if NGO councillors did not toe the line with political appointees in local councils.

He said political representatives might be more concerned with other “political matters” than issues that were considered more central, such as the people's livelihood.

“Our NGOs always feel we want the best for the people we represent, be it assessment rates or efficient services,” he added.

“I am sure the state government will retort that Conpac is not aware of other NGO appointees' in different councils. Our contention is that as long as the state does not come clean with the profile of these appointees', we will not know if they are political appointees using the NGO cover to pass off as NGO candidates,” he stressed.

Councillors, whose terms will expire in December, have begun to “campaign” because an assessment will be carried out for all 288 of them in August an indication of who will be axed.

In a brochure, Achievements Local Government, Research and Studies Standing Committee, distributed since January, state executive councillor Ronnie Liu claimed that 25% of councillors in the state were from NGOs.

Subang Jaya Municipal Council NGO representative K. Arumugam, who is also Suara Rakyat Malaysia chairman, said Selangor must be accountable and transparent in the appointment of NGO and professional councillors.

MPSJ councillor Dr Loi Kheng Min, who is also a Transparency International Malaysia exco member, said NGO representatives must not be affiliated to political parties.

“For the quota under NGOs and professionals, we must have six in each council, making up the total of 72 as agreed upon in 2008. Councillors must also come from neighbouring areas and not be parachuted' in from another place,” he said.