Nik Nazmi: Harapan vows to let KL-ites have a say in DBKL

 

GE15 | Pakatan Harapan is promising to allow Kuala Lumpur voters more say in how the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) is run, through democratic representation in the city hall, said the coalition’s manifesto committee member Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

However, whether this will take the form of a local government election will be discussed further, he said.

He added that Harapan is the only major coalition offering this, which could have a large impact on the lives of city folks.

Reform in DBKL is also an issue often raised by voters he met while campaigning for the seat of Setiawangsa, Nik Nazmi said at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya today.

He said DBKL currently has no legislative oversight, despite having a budget of RM3 billion - larger than the budget of Selangor, the most developed state in the country.

“Many problems plaguing the capital city from over-development to poor infrastructure are due to this anomaly.

“The Perikatan Nasional-BN government is more interested in protecting vested interest than the life and livelihoods of the people.

“The Harapan government will encourage public engagement at all levels through consistent and open platforms, especially in regard to local government policies that have a real impact on the life of the rakyat,” he said.

'KL MPs deal with missing cats to missing ships'

Nik Nazmi said Harapan hopes to make elected representation in DBKL as a pilot case for local governments across the nation.

He also said Kuala Lumpur needs to lead on this because the voters there are already facing a democratic deficit, being able to vote only for elected representatives at the federal level.

This is unlike in other states where voters can vote for state assemblypersons, and local government council members are made up of political appointees representing the winning coalition or party.

Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto committee member Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad

“So, there is a democratic link with the local council. It’s not perfect or totally representative but there is something,” he said, adding that the mayor cannot act on his or her own, and policy decisions are put to a vote at council meetings.

“However, in DBKL, legally all power falls on the mayor individually. Traditionally he is a civil servant appointed by a minister and we have had ministers who are not from Kuala Lumpur - from Ketereh (Annuar Musa) and Arau (Shahidan Kassim) - become ministers in the Federal Territories,” he said.

He added that Harapan is pushing for this because the federal constituencies have mostly been held by its representatives and must deal with issues faced by their constituents related to local government.

“KL MPs have to do everything from missing cats to missing (littoral combat) ships. We have to do everything because we don’t have assemblypersons.

“We have to do something to dispel the fear of democratisation at the local level,” he said.

Racial unrest

The third vote was suspended in 1964 following the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation, on the argument that it creates racial unrest.

The suspension was made permanent by the Local Government Act 1976.

However, Nik Nazmi said this argument no longer applies because urban demographics have changed since the 1970s when most urban dwellers are ethnic Chinese.

In 2010, Malay made up 56 percent of urban dwellers nationwide, he said, while in Kuala Lumpur, the 2010 census showed Malays made up 45.9 percent of residents, compared to 43.2 percent Chinese.

“That was 12 years ago, and demographic trends show Malay numbers are growing against the Chinese,” he said.

Restoring local government elections was part of the DAP election manifesto in 2008.

However, the DAP-led Penang government ran into issues fulfilling this promise.

At the time, its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said it needed the federal government's backing to amend some federal laws, including the Emergency Regulations, which bars local government elections.

The third vote did not make it to the Pakatan Rakyat manifesto in 2014, with PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang saying that it could lead to another May 13 communal riot.

In 2018, the Harapan government's federal territories minister Khalid Samad proposed that Selangor's capital, Shah Alam, be a launchpad to reintroduce the third vote.

However, this saw pushback from the Selangor government which said the state was not consulted.

Then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was against reintroducing local government elections, while the minister in charge of local government Zuraida Kamaruddin said a study was needed before a decision could be made. - Mkini