How long must Penang wait for local council elections, rep asks

 PH’s Gooi Hsiao Leung wants the state government to submit a policy memorandum to the federal government outlining the required legal amendments.

Bukit Tengah assemblyman Gooi Hsiao Leung said although Putrajaya is not ready to reintroduce local elections, the Penang government must ensure the matter remains on the national reform agenda.

GEORGE TOWN:

A Penang backbencher today asked how much longer the state must wait for local elections to be reinstated, urging the state government to renew its commitment to restoring them.

Gooi Hsiao Leung (PH-Bukit Tengah) said the state government had told him in a written reply that it remained interested in reviving local council elections.

However, he said, the state had yet to submit the proposed legal amendments to Putrajaya or draw up a timeline for holding local council elections on a pilot basis.

“I understand the existing legal obstacles and the need to obtain the federal government’s cooperation. But after more than 50 years, I want to ask: how much longer do we want to wait?” he said while debating the state’s 2027 budget in the state assembly.

Gooi said the state government should renew its commitment by submitting a policy memorandum to the federal government outlining the proposed legal amendments.

“Although the federal government is not ready to reintroduce local elections, we must ensure that this matter remains on the national reform agenda,” he said.

Gooi also recounted a conversation with an official from a city council in Stuttgart, Germany, who told him that all 179 municipalities and towns have elected local councils.

“When I told him that all the mayors in Malaysia’s 155 local authorities are appointed by the federal government, his jaw dropped,” Gooi added.

Local elections were held from 1956 to 1965 before being suspended. They were abolished a year later.

A royal commission set up in 1965 called for local elections to be restored; however, the federal government decided against it and enacted the Local Government Act 1976, effectively suspending the prospect of local elections.

The law empowers state governments to appoint mayors, presidents and councillors rather than having them elected by the public.

In 2008, the Pakatan Harapan-led state governments of Penang and Selangor attempted to revive the polls in fulfilment of their election promises, but to no avail.

In February 2024, housing and local government minister Nga Kor Ming said local council elections were not a priority as his ministry was focussed on other areas, such as road safety and cleaner public toilets and drains. - FMT