Blog reader LTH shares with us his thoughts about the Pakatan’s apparent lack of enthusiasm regarding local democracy. As recent events have shown, it isn’t impossible to restore local democracy – with or without the Election Commission’s or federal assistance or legal reforms. All that is needed to get the ball rolling is the political will and sincerety to fulfil campaign promises:
During GE12,
- “We will return to the people local council elections!” was part of the PR manifesto;
- And this is how they promised: “Just change it!”
After GE12,
- “There are legal problems to untangle, you know; we can’t just change it!”
- “We’ll need to move the whole SPR machinery over, will cost many millions, I tell you!”
- “We tried in Parliament, you saw us, didn’t you?” (note: knowing full well it was an exercise in futility)
Haha, after 1 January 2009, the Gunung Rapat people have become such an embarrassment to PR:
- “We do the election ourselves, at no cost to the state government.”
- “Now go ahead and appoint those elected as required by law…. now what legal problems?”
- “No SPR needed before, nor are they required now.”
- “Just Change It? …. Don’t even need to change anything!”
Their very own MP Lee Boon Chye has shown a simple way how PR can now fulfil its election promise.
The question is: Will PR now bite the bullet and ‘walk the talk’ to show its political will and the coalition’s commitment to really return demorcracy to the people/voters?
yes…
Pulangkan Hak Kepada Rakyat!!!
Pulangkan “pilihan raya tempatan” Kepada Rakyat!!!
http://gomalaysian.blogspot.com/
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PKR is more receptive to local council election compared to DAP and PAS. I found DAP especially LGE talked a lot nonsense excuses for broken promises made during GE 12.
New village head direct election in Gunung Rapat is a slap on the face of DAP and PAS.
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If there is a will , there is a way.
To have the local election for mayors and chief of village is not against the Constitution in a democratic country.
Only undemocratic acts are against the Constitution.
All states/provinces/counties have the final say in their respective territory.Therefore , local election can be held. With or without the SPR.
All PAKATAN RAKYAT leaders must make a move. If violates the federal, challenge it. Let the rakyat see , let it be heard.
Just because the bn have more MPs in parliament does not mean all of them will rejects .
Push for it legally or illegally. Or my vote is no longer important.
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Politicians all the same. They will promise everything but the question is will they implement it?
JUST KEEP THE AWARENESS GOING AS AT THE END OF THE DAY IT IS , WE THE PEOPLE WHO WILL DECIDE AND IT IS “KETUANAN RAKYAT” THAT WE MUST BELIEVE IN.
But at least PR government at the state level is better than BN, may be just give them a little bit more time to make adjustment, I repeat adjustment not excuses!!!
Lets campaign to put them at the Federal Government as a test case at least we know, Yes they can or No the can’t!!!
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Ahem – talk about certain architect on his conflict of interest and I will give you credit but for now – it is still up in the air….
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But only 30% of Gunung Rapat voted. Those who conducted are from PKR. The one who won is from PKR.
Just look at what happen on the land conversion when the federal government intervene.
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Your word is your bond,
once broken the trust is gone.
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DAP is a big disappointment for not fulfilling their 12th GE pledges on local council election,; they could have done it in Penang which they are the backbone of the state government.
My take is they want to reward their supporters by appointing them to local council positions. In this sense LKSand his son are just (the same) as Barisan Nasional leaders.
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Local Council elections
Go with it as promised
Why give reasons of law?
Just let the people in the area decide
PR government must get it through
Don’t tell the voters what is right and wrong
We expect them to know
Before it is listed on its manifesto
It seems PR wants to appoint
People of the party choice
Forgetting the basic principle
The voters in the area to decide
The choice of candidates
It seems PR is trying to navigate
Away its promises by giving legal reasons
I hope the PR leaders don’t get overboard
For the voters will make them pay
Come the next election
Why so difficult?
Let the people pick their candidates
Like normal party elections
Then the state governments decide
On the candidates eligibility
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When one works for a MNC, the Management is not interested to know why it can’t be done. They want to know how it can be done. To add on, it is not acceptable to say it won’t work, without giving an alternate working solution, that meets the requirements and expecations.
So for starters, PKR did an informal Poll, and the MB of Perak, could have said, “VERY GOOD START” please recommend all the informally elected office bearers, and as the approving authority, we will approve as per the will of the rakyat. Simple yet so complicated, right?
2 famous quotes for our PR leaders:
Anybody can pilot a ship when the sea is calm.
There is no point in aiming at the target if you are loaded with blanks.
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it is almost ONE YEAR now and DAP is in total control of Penang state gov. rakyat is still waiting for their election promise to be fulfilled.
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Pakatan Rakyat is a misnomer after these developments. I have not seen a single electoral promise been delivered or even tried to deliver it. It took BN 50 years to stoop to this level and yet PR has done it in 9 short months. Perhaps they should re-name themselves, I have some suggestions… Pakatan Anwar, Pakatan Anti-BN, Pakatan Perniagaan,…
As I had mentioned before, the Perak village election is just a political game between PKR and DAP. They are each trying to be the champion of the Chinese community and also positioning themselves with a view to the next GE.
With the current arrangement, the PR govt of Perak is hanging by the thread with its super-slim majority. And the govt itself is a lame-duck one with a lame-duck MB who is an uneasy compromise between PKR and DAP. With this arrangement not just PKR and DAP are unhappy but PAS too is not pleased that even their man being MB they have no say in the state’s administration.
So, both DAP and PKR are working hard to gain control of the state by the time for the next GE.
Perak’s decision of creating the post of Deputy Mayor (and putting a political appointee for the post) will effectively undermine the authority of the mayor and make him/her a lame-duck too.
As for the appointment of politicians as head of MPSP and MPPP, this is a crushing blow to Penangites. It was reported that Perak and Selangor will follow suit. So after all the hype, we are actually regressing. Now DAP and PKR wants NGOs out of MPSP and MPPP so the councils will be filled with their party people. I hope they don’t follow the example of Selangor where party members were elected to local councils under the guise of NGOs.
BTW am I the only person getting irritated by the motor-mouth LGE ? He seems to be talking non stop on issues that has nothing to do with him or Penang but when it comes to matters pertaining Penang he has only excuses. Hardly a day goes without him appearing in the TV or the papers (thanks to the hard of a carefully selected PR machine I guess) making yet another unneeded and unnecessary statement.
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Similar to calls to the EC to be fair, this step is simply to even out the playing ground. It is not as if the PR is trying to tilt the conditions in their favour. Like I said, having the voters have a say would take a load off the shoulders of the state governments.
They must have a transparent system for the local councils and village heads. An election simply evens out the playing ground for everyone. If the system takes hold, BN would find the changes hard to undo.
In the long term, this is an opportunity for PR to entrench democratic changes in the political system. It might receive brickbats from some members and supporters for not hogging the positions, but PR have bigger fish to fry in the bigger picture rather than to pander to such petty demands.
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Perhaps you guys should channel your enthusiasm or energy into more pressing issues at the moment like the dwindling economy cum GLOBAL RECESSION.
Perhaps you guys also forgotten that the PROMISE made is when you vote them into the ‘FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’.
Perhaps you guys should channel your energy to help the new state government rather than yap-yap-yap but offer no solution.
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LGE said it in an interview, “we expected to win more seats, not to form the next state govt” and based on this, he is not prepared – look at his team & how they screwed up big time on so many things like the flip-flopping of the hill-slope development issue, the Kings of Tennis debacle and what else… LGE shud look to the ground and scour the entire island for some real “hidden” talents who are technocrats and experts in their own fields and willing to serve the cause. I am staying in Penang (adoptive) for good and I personally know at least 6-7 really good people who would make a diff to LGE’s administration but as they are not elected or members of political parties, they are not welcomed. These are the many “untapped Lee Kah Choons” and if LGE spend enough time and effort, he can uncover these technocrats. I myself have been working so hard to contribute, play a role, like starting the soup kitchen project etc but being a non-politikus, my voice fell mostly on deaf ears. Penang is full of talent all these years and many are willing to serve but LGE only need to talk to his various local contacts / ADUNs and the talents can be unearthed.
It is for these lact of capabilities and resources at his disposal that LGE look really inept. No, I am not offering excuses for the man but I have seen the organizational skills / knowledge / experience (or lack of it) on the ground and the managerial level, so pathetic.
Even a weekly teh tarek session by LGE with these pool of untapped talents would work wonder for him in terms of feedback, resources and ideas. Right now, his gatekeepers are beginning to behave like Tingkat Empat boys… people like me who want to contribute just get turned off at every corner, what can we do but keep the ideas flowing in anilnetto.com lah….
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Oh, the only roles we are ‘permitted’ to play to help Penang state development was to buy our own candles and attend the weekly Friday candlelight vigils.
My advice to LGE is to take a week off and visit the key constituencies and talk to some local boys who are ever willing to work for a better Penang, with no political ambitions, but share the same agenda and cause ie to change for a better Malaysia.
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No need to attack DAP or PAS they are just inexperience in governing. The road is opened now and let see what will happen. It takes more than 50 years to know we screw up and you expect PR to fix part of the proble we created resolved in five years? Please set reasonable expectation and I say 10 years to allow someone to set up to good governance.
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Lim Guan Eng has changed his name to Koh Tsu Koon.
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the problems of PR is where is Anwar ?Is Anwar still the Pakatan leader?
There is no unity in movements and strategies implementation and sometimes I thought Lim Keat Siang is the leader of PR. Why PR was so disoriented and they move all over different direction. One day when time is right, one big unresolved issues happened(especially regarding religion) among DAP and PAS members. Then PR is finished. By that time can Keadilan still be a respectable mediator.
No funds lah ? Legal problems lah? We can do this and that lah? Our hand is tight lah? I mean what the hell is this excuses? Again Where is Anwar, could Anwar do something about this? If he also cannot,then Rakyat you have to kiss your dream bye-bye.
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The good things done by PR govts in Selangor , Perak and Penang are either not covered in the Star, NST or other local media and worse still their comments were being twisted so much so that when you tell the press you are going to Singapore the local press will land you in Padang Besar !
And Now , you get the BN govt appointing paid bloggers and writers to try to paint ugly pictures of the activities by PR leaders. Their shooting targets are the MB’s and the CM of Penang.
Ultimately, the people are the better judge.
Just tell me who is not interested in the local elections for town and district councillors and what does PR govts gain by not having local elections ?
If you care to look back in history during the era of local elections for town and district councils you will know the answer.
Only the BN is not interested and they had done away with these elections due to the fact that the opposition members always win.
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Dear Daryl,
We simply do not have 10 years, that’s why we put all our hope on 916.
Now couple with financial crisis we even have less time. So PR members of parliament please buck up. Nothing move in Sabah Only one or two miserable DAP guy doing good job. Seldom heard from Christina Liew.
Dear Sang,
Really BN appointing paid bloggers??? Please informed me where to download the application form? How much is their pay? Next year some of our youngster will be unemployed and it is good to earn money from BN because BN money is also our blood sweat money.
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San Seong
Please enlighten us which are PR’s “good work” that was not covered in the MSM ? I am dying to know…
Han2 : You are right. Penang is rich in talent and these people should be harvested and utilised to the benefit of the state. Any way forget about Lee Kah Choon, he is just a politican and ask anyone in InvestPenang and they will tell you that he is just another political appointee with nothing to contribute.
I was expecting LGE to openly advertise the job so to get the best candidate based on meritocrasy. But in the end, it is ironic that DAP is not practicising meritocrasy but following UMNO in adopting cronyism by rewarding political loyalty with positions and contracts.
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Sang Seong on January 6th, 2009 at 1.45pm
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Another pathethic accusation to label “we” as BN paid bloggers.
Do you know LGE’s blog has mentioned nothing about all great things he has achieved as a Chief Minister except boasting how many billion investment funds committed to Penand state.
He always forget that these investment ventures are baited by the previous government. LGE only can claim his own share for new investiment ventures make in the next one or two years later.
Don’t think rakyat is damn stupid to see through DAP propaganda.
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Still yapping?? Hehe….Ask not what others can do for you but ask yourself what you can do for others…..
1) So have you guys stop using plastic bags?
2) So have you guys come out with the ‘ultimate’ solution so that the we can have local authority elections and at the same time doesn’t invite federal government’s wrath?
3) Can you sack the non-performers in the local councils or maybe in the state government without mercy and no question ask? If you can, make sure you run in the next general election.
4) Have you stop buying hillslope houses/apartment or known someone who bought one and you die-die also stop him/her buying?
5) Have you stop hiring foreign maids but instead hire a local one?
6) Would you sacrifice your income by half or maybe by 2/3 and offer yourself as a state government employee and then maybe can help LGE do those things you expect them to do?
sigh….
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Sabahan
I believe in setting up a clean and efficient government. Also, an efficient public services, PDRM that actually independent, independent Anti-Corruption, good education, strong judiciary system and long list of things to clean up. So, there are long list of department to purge of the cronies and less qualified people with people that can actually do work. If you can do that in five years please draw out a plan.
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