The problem with local government

Much has been said about local government elections. Proponents have weighed in with their arguments quoting history, democratic principles, how things are run in foreign countries, reduction of corruption and better governance as their main points. Opponents have weighed in with their own version of, well, history: its perceived high costs, additional layering of the administration and further burden to the system as theirs.

Then there’s PAS’s seemingly illogical argument. PAS it appears – quick to learn from Umno’s footsteps – now sees fit to add God, king, religion and race into every other argument they employ. And you can longer constructively discuss any of the four aforementioned topics in this country.

At least not without risking severe political backlash: a demonstration by three of four overnight-registered NGOs; a dozen or so police reports; and a massive online campaign complete with death threats, calls for deportation and insults against everyone from your mother to your pet iguana levelled against you.

And, in the case of the local government, PAS has again raised the spectre of May 13. Of all the spectres in the Malaysian political spectrum, May 13 would easily be the national favourite. Everyone uses it to illustrate almost any point.

Oh, beware the requests for this thing called democracy – it could lead to a May 13 Oh, beware of women’s rights – it could lead to May 13! Do not allow the LGBT community to do an art show…  that could lead to May 13!

No one seems to like bringing up the Japanese, or the British or the Communists – at least not the Russian or the Chinese communists. Of course not, we are only afraid of “communists” from Gelang Patah or Bagan.

No one ever goes, “Hey, stop watching anime, the Japanese would steal our bicycles again!” Or, “Do not shop at Marks and Spencer’s or the British would make us wear funny hats and salute them again”.

We also do not seem to have a problem with Indonesia or the Philippines, who even more recently than any of the aforementioned powers, tried to kill off Malaysia barely five years after we attained Independence!

Like all the black spots in our history, May 13 is in the past. We have learned our lesson. But constant usage of it as a slogan tends to corrode the lesson and turn it into some sort of cheap slogan or political war cry. None of us wants another May 13; but I don’t believe we want to keep talking about it as a conversation staple either. In my opinion, only one thing is sure to lead to May 13. And that is May 12.But I digress.

May 13 was not even the first cause of local government elections to be suspended, as many may believe or lead you to believe, although it did make that decision easier. Local government elections, was, in fact suspended in 1965, in response to the Indonesian confrontation.

Constant guerrilla attacks made it quite impossible to manage the local governments at such a grass-roots level, and the states pretty much took over that responsibility. That suspension was never lifted and despite the strong recommendation of Senator Athi Nahappan’s  1968 Royal Commission, that every state capital and surrounding authorities have an elected local council, local government elections never again saw the light of day. In fact they eventually did quite the opposite in the 1976 Act – permanently abolishing local government elections!

Over the years, this system led to local governments being just another form of largesse for the victors of the state and/or Federal elections. A pretty impressive largesse too, given that city councils can be even richer than state governments. There was a time where the George Town City Council, for example, controlled a budget three times that of the state government of Penang. This system worked relatively well too – especially for the ruling National Front which ballooned to fourteen parties, each vying for a share for their own followers and members. That is quite a few parties to cater to – at national, state, division and branch levels.

Local government positions also meant leverage over tenders, awarding of contracts and, of course, political mileage for up and coming members who could then move on go to contest for state and federal legislative positions. This led to movements like Malodi in Penang and Shadow MPPJ in Selangor. Ironically, one of the key people behind Shadow MBPJ, Ronnie Liu, would eventually be the exco overseeing MBPJ.

The 2008 Election saw the DAP-PAS-PKR coalition sweep into power in five states – an opportunity to test their commitment to returning the third vote. We saw some reform – the new state governments in Selangor and Penang imposed term-limits for councillors, tried to remove the need for “recommendation letters”, and attempted to introduce NGO representation in the councils. Selangor also attempted to introduce elections for the JKKK (village councils), which met with generally good response.

For at least one term, things looked like they were going in the right direction. All this time, notably, PAS did not openly voice their objection to these moves. Then the politics stepped in. There were complaints that the NGO quota was eventually being filled by NGO members who were also party members of the ruling coalition, with little to no participation from the NGOs themselves. A few former allies like animal rights’ groups and citizen’s rights groups started turning on the new state governments instead.

The often touted tagline is that the federal government opposes the move for the return of local government elections. They have every political reason to do so: generally the richer local councils are in urban areas, a traditional stronghold of the opposition, particularly the DAP and to a lesser extent, PKR. This could explain DAP’s bullishness on wanting local government elections, PKR’s half-heartedness and PAS’s disinterest. 

But to accuse the opposition of wanting more power isn’t quite fair. They after all do control the two states with the richest local councils already: Penang and Selangor. Apart from some gains in Perak and perhaps the crown jewel of DBKL, the gains would probably not be worth the risk of losing control of such an important part of their state government machineries, especially in the rural areas.

Also, much can still be done within the powers of the state government still, without the need for local government elections. The Nahappan Commission did propose the setting up of local government tribunals. The position of local councillor itself should be made more attractive to attract even more talented people to the pool – and at 151 local councils requiring between 20-30 councillors each, that’s a pretty big pool!

Unless local politics comprises an unlimited supply of Gandhis and Mandelas, which sadly is not the case, the flat allowance of approximately RM 500 a councillor in most jurisdictions will either get you really mediocre people or give rise to the need for that person to be “resourceful” in seeking funds.

Perhaps the role of the councillor should also be properly defined. People need to be re-educated on what a legislator does, or rather is not supposed to do. A legislator’s job is to enact proper laws and ensure that those laws are implemented in a proper way, not to implement those laws themselves- irrespective of whether it’s an Act of Parliament regarding the national defence policy or a simple by-law.

A people’s representative’s role is to represent the people and to bring their grouses to these chambers of decision making, not pointing at pot holes and broken street lights or holding press conferences over contested Telekom bills. In an ideal world, there should not even be a need for Pusat Khidmat Ahli Majlis , as the focus would be service improvement and delivery, rather than acting as the public complaints arm of local councils.

Local councillors should also be given more leeway to disagree with their respective parties. If the local councillors are merely going to act as rubber stamps to their respective party policies, which would of course, be in line with the state government’s policies, if they rule in both, local government elections would serve little more than an ego trip for the parties in question. An increase in actual NGO representation, and perhaps inclusion of non-aligned eminent members of society in local councils, could test the present local councils on their independence of influence from state and Federal governments.

Are local government elections important? Most definitely. Are they the most important thing for democracy right now? I do not really think so. After all, while it’s something good to have – there are more pressing issues like cleaning up the electoral roll, and returning confidence to the judiciary.

Interestingly, the third vote is not even specifically mentioned in the list of demands by arguably Malaysia’s most popular and powerful electoral pressure group – Bersih 2.0. Strengthening of public institutions and the reduction of corruption and dirty politics, however, are.

Perhaps these are the areas local government elections proponents can look at more aggressively, before venturing to restore the third vote, something that looking at both internal and external opposition, and the very nature of the current local government system at present, seems the logical thing to do. – February 3, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.