Tengku Adnan, mayor should quit over assessment hike fiasco, says Nurul Izzah

Nurul Izzah speaks to an attendee at the 'Our Future' forum in Petaling Jaya last night. She has criticised the Tengku Adnan and the mayor for their inability in handling the assessment rates which will affect citizens in the city. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Nazir Sufari, November 30, 2013.Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said nothing short of a resignation from the Federal Territories Minister and the Kuala Lumpur mayor would atone for the mismanagement of the assessment rate hike in the capital city.

She also said the issue of transparency and accountability on the rate hike is the latest example of what happens when a very powerful position is appointed rather than elected. (She was referring to the appointment of the Kuala Lumpur mayor.)

“They should all just resign. What is the point of having a federal territories ministry or a mayor’s office when they cannot manage?” Nurul Izzah said when met at a forum in Petaling Jaya last night.

She said the Kuala Lumpur City Council (DBKL) until today had not justified why the rates must be increased, especially since many of the council’s primary services such as sewage treatment and garbage collection had been taken over by private companies.

“I have seen no improvement of City Hall's services. So we are asking them what is the justification for such a hike?”, she said when asked about the apology from Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.

Tengku Adnan apologised yesterday to the public over confusion and discord created by the rate hike. He said the announcement could have been "better handled".

He added that his officers should have sent letters instead of notices which made home and property owners very unhappy. This, he said, allowed Pakatan Rakyat MPs to take advantage of the situation.

Nurul Izzah said DBKL could have informed rate payers a year ago that it was studying the possibility of a rate hike instead of suddenly sending notices to residents and owners.

“The mayor should be able to plan one year ahead of time and anticipate whether he needs to inform residents that they (City Hall) are considering a rate hike.

“But instead residents got a notice in November saying that there will be a hike and that it will come into force in January.”

Despite Tengku Adnan’s apologies, she said, residents would still have to deal with the fact that rates are going to go up next year.