Miscommunication cause of MBPJ councillors' meeting walkout - MB

 

Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari has explained that it was a miscommunication that caused a group of Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) councillors to walk out from a full-board meeting recently.

This comes after a full-board meeting on Tuesday reportedly ended abruptly after 19 out of 24 councillors walked out over a disagreement on procedures in the approval of a development project in Lorong Sultan.

“We discussed this yesterday in our state exco (meeting) and then today, our local council exco Ng Sze Han met with the whip and the mayor and I think it was some misunderstanding or maybe we have to improve communication,” he said.

Amirudin (above) was responding to a reporter after attending a stakeholder session on the half-term study of the 12th Malaysia Plan with Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli in Shah Alam today.

According to reports, a heated argument had taken place during the meeting led by Petaling Jaya mayor Mohamad Azhan Md Amir.

The 19 councillors had reportedly disagreed with Azhan’s statement that the councillors were not decision-makers in the One-Stop Centre (OSC) discussion and that they were only there to give input on social and political aspects.

Development approval process dispute

The councillors later said they walked out from the meeting to protect the city council’s interest as whatever decision made over the development would be used as a reference should any issue arise later.

“The position of the 19 MBPJ councillors is clear - any application for a development project in Petaling Jaya must go through the proper and transparent procedures and must respect the principles of the law.

“Our position is clear that the applicant must withdraw their case at the Appeal Board, submit a new application and then it will be discussed again based on the latest guidelines, instead of being approved without going through the proper legal procedures,” the councillors added.

When asked about the approval process for the development in contention, Amirudin said this is why all decisions by the Appeal Board of the state planning committee are final.

“Even the menteri besar or the court cannot go against any decisions by the Appeal Board. That is the first understanding,” he said. - Mkini