Only two of the 10 nominees chosen during the Penang Forum elections were appointed as councillors of the MPPP and MPSP in 2011.
They are Dr Tiun Ling Ta (MPSP) and Dr Lim Mah Hui (MPPP). That’s one out of 24 councillors in each of the MPPP and MPSP.
But the candidate who received the most number of votes for MPPP, Teo Lee Ken, was ignored. And so was Siva, an experienced lawyer who received the second highest number of votes for MPSP. Is the state government not interested in having more independent-minded councillors who can demand greater accountability and transparency without having to worry about upsetting party bosses?
Some decent and qualified candidates were chosen among the 10 during the Penang Forum elections, which broadened the selection process. So it’s disappointing that most of the candidates finally selected by the state government are political party appointees.
It is incorrect to say that Penang Forum has accepted the explanation from the Penang state government. The steering committee of the Penang Forum has not yet seen any explanation from the state government – so how to accept?
Have things really changed, if we are still going to be content with only party appointees as councillors pending the full restoration of local council elections?
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I challenge you nkkhoo and gerakan k, to try governing for once. Gerakan k, your party is now nothing but an ngo waiting for scraps falling off the umno table. Can BN do a better job? I recommend u go back to them and bankrupt the nation if you think that way. No political party is perfect, but we try to do our best with the available means. We try to fulfill our promises but there will be roadbumps on the way, BN never fulfilled ANY of their promises and our nation is headed to bankruptcy because of this. To… Read more »
You people out there seems so unhappy. There’s too much revenge in you. Don’t talk … here. This is small matter. You don’t want to vote for PR, fine that’s your right. If you want Barang Naik to rule and squeeze your … (you all are … rich people) go vote for them. Nobody is stopping you. Let’s wait for next GE, whether Penangites believes in PR or not. You people, the rich are the minority who belongs to Barang Naik party are banging …. hard because you have lost so much after the beloved LGE rule Penang. Good luck… Read more »
I’ll initiate a … campaign to vote out those DAP and PR top leaders who fail miserably in their promises and only keep their good machai.
LGE and his Penang Dap Chairman on the … list.
With less than 300 people participating in this sandiwara, I can well understand why the NGOs do not band together to form a political party and stand for elections.
Spot on. It’s easier to hide behind ‘civil society’.
Only 300 voted? Come on, and you expect people to take it seriously.
Well, who voted for the political appointees?
How many DAP members came out to select their state leadership?
The answer is 700++. This number is a peanut, that is smaller than student council election in the faculty level at any local public university.
The people of Penang want change. They want local government elections. They have great expectations for a democratic future. But all that this DAP/PR government is concerned about is feeding their own cronies positions. We now face a dilemma. We don’t want the BN back but this DAP/PR is not doing what we elected them to do. I think all our current politicians from both sides of the political divide are dishonorable. Scoundrels all of them. What’s more, it is deeply disturbing to note that Penang Forum comprising the NGO community who supported the DAP/PR to win power in 2008… Read more »
This sandiwara is just a waste of time. If DAP claims to practise CAT principle, then its bull…. Where is the merit? For MPPP, Teo Lee Ken got the most votes. Why is Lim Mah Hui appointed? Then, in MPSP, Tiun Ling Ta who got the highest votes was appointed instead of number two Siva. Clearly, DAP is practising double standards. They always accuse BN of 1Malaysia 2Systems but now they are implementing 1Penang 2Systems as well… Really pot calling the kettle black!
Lim Mah Hui is the Ma Chai of DAP, what do you epect?
Anil please don’t complain if you agree to choose side without looking at the merit of issues on hand. Why not happy when Penang Forum is sidelined. How can Penang Forum gain respect from LGe when it tend to show a solidarity stand with LGe?
Penang Forum fool hardly support the policies of LGe without questioning. This is the consequence of pro DAP stand. Worse Aliran is being used to appoint a political appointee who has no business to use Aliran membership as a civil society representative.
More NGO personels should be appointed especially from the non-political background one.
I hope the number of councillors could be increased to accommodate the real good ones, after all it will cost the people a token to pay them.
Anil,
Sorry. Only one is selected. The other one only disguise himself as Aliran member who hardly active at all. He should be considered as political party appointee with his strong and unambiguous pro DAP stand.
What those two elected or selected council members could do, is to expand the scope of participation. Even university students could help. They have the whole council area to look from. MCLM should be available. There are plenty of NGO people in Penang.
Congratulations to those two civil society reps. Quantity is not important but quality. The question is to these two reps ‘Are you without fear or favour able to perform your duties as highly expected by the People?’ Hopefully, both appointed are not for window dressing. KPI is needed to be implemented to judge performance of all councillors.
Time to wake up. What do mean “quality over quantity”.
How much do you know about municipal councilman responsibilities, accountability limit and the salaries?
It is pathetic RM700-RM800. What kind of “quality works” do you expect from a half baked system!?
Yes, in the end, the main agenda is to work together for the local people, we shall work together with ths 2 NGO elected appointees. They should outperform the political appointees to increase their number the next round ie continue to free the local council from political grip through this way.
BTW, I wonder how much is the salary of a council member?
Around RM700-800, I think, plus meeting allowances.
RM700-800? Anil, don’t you think it is a jokes in Malaysia ? Or perhaps Malaysia has make this a laughable jokes for many years. Even a low ranking government officer draw more salary than the city councilman. Are we looking for a “part time volunteer”. This system is SNAFU to encourage graft and responsibilities evading. And what kind of responsibilities and accountability assign to this councilman? Oh dear. What kind of system Malaysian are banging the buck into! Chinese famous critique Long YingTai has wrote this after she step down from the authority position : With great executive power but… Read more »
Yes, I think those amounts are hopelessly out of date and they need to be raised to allow councillors to at least earn a ‘living income’ while at the same time reflecting the concept of public service.
I came out no.5 during the election. Win or lose, small matter, what matters most to me is returning the power of the MPPP to the common people. Being one of the top 5 winners to be considered and appointed, we were not even called in for interview. No doubt there were only 300 voters but this voting process is a hallmark in Malaysian history as a beginning to return local Government Elections. The candidate that came out as the no.1 winner in the top 5 list is a holder of Masters in Law, a qualified researcher and a local… Read more »
Many of the 10 nominees chosen at the Penang Forum election were not quite qualified in terms of qualification and experiences
Are the party appointees more ‘qualified’, you think?
What statutory qualification and experiences to be a councilor?
I challenge DAP to publish every councilor’s qualification and experiences for public purview?
I don’t see a relevancy of qualification with public representative roles. A technical paper know how only useful for initial job market, but it is pretty useless for public representation.
An immoral crook that held no ethical value with many flying color papers will still be a crook! These people are no better than a McDonald staff that learn inside out that know to make use of standard operation and monitoring procedure.
What happen to the so called interview from a selection committee? Why can’t even give the candidates an interview?
I think any restriction on who can stand as a public representative should be resisted as an attempt to remove a basic democratic right. Let’s face it – fancy degrees, illustrious heritage and awesome abilities seem to be no guarantee an elected person won’t lie, cheat, steal and kill people. Why not have a few teenagers whose only experience is wrapping burgers at McD’s? Given what they’re being compared with, they could hardly be worse. I think qualifications and experience are deeply irrelevant to democratic representation. Publish potential conflicts of interest, such as memberships, directorships, shareholdings, investments etc, but the… Read more »
We may not totally boycott PR candidates in next GE, but we, third voice can choose for not voting LGE and DAP Penang Chairman.
Let teach DAP top leadership a hard lesson.
How to deny both of them the votes when I am not from their constituency? The way to teach them a lesson is to cause a marginal vote swing not enough to (defeat) them but enough to tremble them with fear. 3% vote swing is my ultimate objective but if it end up (defeating) this administration, too bad can’t help it!
I think I can influence 90% of my friends, let send the message to voters in LGE’s constituency to teach him a bitter lesson.
As long as PR still win the majority in the state, vote out LGE and DAP state chairman should be alright.
So that election was just a “sandiwara” to please its supporters.
It must be hard for its loyal supporters to accept the fact. Ada orang kena tipu !!!
2×5 for PR. Don’t claim you are any better than others. But if fact they are much terrible because they put it as election manifesto.
At least for others, they don’t put that election as their election manifesto.
What are you all waiting for ???
Mark this incident in your diary and just punish those politicians that offered empty promises in next GE.
Exercise your voting right and vote wisely next time.