Federal village community management councils to be set up

PARLIAMENT | The establishment of Federal Village Community Management Councils will proceed from Jan 1 in five opposition-led states - Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Perlis and Sarawak.

Deputy Rural and Regional Development Minister Sivarasa Rasiah said these councils would be in addition to the Village Community Management Councils (MPKK) and Village Safety and Development Committees (JKKK) existing in the states.

The decision to set up the federal councils was taken based on Harapan's view that the functions of the MPKK and JKKK have not been effective in channelling information on the federal government's policies and programmes to the people.

"The decision was made after more than one year (since GE14) of trying out the (MPKK and JKKK) systems in these states. We found that we faced a big challenge to ensure complete (dissemination of) information on the government's programmes and policies...

"We have given them a chance, we have tried for over one year to see if the structure can work for all parties. But we found that it did not work," Sivarasa told the Dewan Rakyat last night, in his winding-up speech on the committee stage debate of the ministry's Supply Bill 2020.

"That is why we have made this decision and this decision is not made at the ministry level, but by the cabinet.

"Everyone sat down to discuss and this is the decision. We will set up the Federal Village Community Management Council," Sivarasa said in response to several lawmakers who raised the issue in the Dewan Rakyat.

New channel needed to disseminate information

Citing the example of a circular issued by the Sarawak state secretary last year to forbid JKKK members from attending programmes hosted by Pakatan Harapan elected representatives, Sivarasa said the government needed a new channel to disseminate information on its policies and programmes.

The Sarawak circular, issued in October last year, states that all community leaders are not allowed to attend functions or programmes hosted by parties other than the state government or organisations approved by the state.

At the time, Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah Embas (photo) reportedly said that the circular was issued in reaction to a letter dated May 17, 2018, from the Rural and Regional Development Ministry to suspend all payments related to JKKK appointments, transfers and allowances.

For the record, the payment suspension also affected all other states, and the payment has been resumed since October last year.

Sivarasa's explanation led several Sarawak MPs, including Rubiah Wang (GPS-Kota Samarahan) and Lukanisman Awang Sauni (GPS-Sibuti), to urge the government to reconsider its decision and engage with the Sarawak state government.

They argued that setting up an additional structure would only cause confusion to the people, particularly in Sarawak, which has its own ethnic community leaders.

Discussions with Sarawak failed to reach a solution

However, Sivarasa insisted that ongoing discussions with the Sarawak state government, since last year, have failed to reach a solution, including on a request to withdraw the circular.

He also reminded the MPs that the Federal Village Community Management Council is not a new structure as it was similarly set up in several opposition-held states since 2008, during the tenure of BN.

"Now we have no other option, aside from implementing that (the federal councils)," said Sivarasa, who also promised to provide written answers to several MPs whose questions he did not address in his speech.

At this point, Sivarasa's fellow PKR colleague, Segamat MP Edmund Santhara, asked for the written replies to be provided within a set deadline.

"I don't want to wait until next year's budget… Because there are some (written replies) that I asked for last year and I never got them," Santhara said, supported by several other MPs who stood up and expressed their agreements.

Ronald Kiandee (Harapan-Beluran) then informed Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Nga Kor Ming, who presided over the sitting, that so far they have only received written replies from the Health Ministry.

Nga later adjourned the sitting, after advising all ministries to follow the Health Ministry's example and provide their written replies before the end of this parliamentary current session. - Mkini