Youth group Undi Saksama has lauded the proposal by the government to restore local council elections saying that it is an important platform to increase youth representation in politics and empower local communities.
"We appreciate the firm stance taken by Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin (photo, above) against opposition towards the proposal expressed by several parliamentarians.
"We call for all political parties to support the move to restore local council elections," said Undi Saksama in a statement today.
Undi Saksama is a youth-led campaign against gerrymandering and malapportionment in Malaysia. Linked to Undi18, it advocates for a more proportional and democratic electoral system.
"Local democracy forms the foundation of representative democracies like Malaysia, and the democratisation of local decision-making allows Malaysians to call for changes in their immediate communities through elected local representatives.
"The right to elect mayors and councillors that directly represent the interests of the electorate stands to empower all Malaysians. Local council elections are also an important opportunity for young politicians to gain a platform to serve the rakyat directly," it added.
Zuraida has on Monday said that when she had previously pursued the local government elections agenda, she was contradicted by former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and no one dared to support her even though it was in the Pakatan Harapan manifesto, under which she was first elected.
Nonetheless, the minister said she would be pushing ahead with plans to initiate local government polls to empower local governments and that a paper on the matter would be tabled in the cabinet by mid-2021 before further work is done.
Her announcement saw objections from other MPs from her Perikatan Nasional grouping such as Umno's Noh Omar), PAS's Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh and GPS' Alexander Nanta Linggi.
Undi Saksama encourages all parties to channel their concerns through constructive means to ensure their interests will be accounted for.
"As much has changed since the suspension of local council elections in 1965, the government has expressed commitment to studying the feasibility of local council elections.
"We are confident that the findings of this study will address more technical concerns of parliamentarians who have expressed their reservations about the proposal.
"For now, Undi Saksama believes that the move to restore local council elections represents a bold step forward in strengthening democracy and promoting governmental accountability and look forward to furthering progress in the restoration of the people of Malaysia’s democratic right to the third vote," said the group. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.