Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now!
KUALA LUMPUR (Politics Now!) - It looks like the DAP is bailing out on yet another promise to voters - this time by insisting local council election is not a priority and "maybe in 10 years' time" Malaysians might finally get a taste of better, more targeted and efficient governance.
“Our country has just recovered from political upheaval, so now is the time to calm the political situation and focus on work that can benefit the public," DAP's housing and local government minister Nga Kor Ming told reporters on Thursday (Dec 28).
“Everything will happen at the right time. Local council elections … are not the ministry’s priority at the moment,” he said, adding that his ministry is now focussed on rolling out 5,000 public facilities like playgrounds, toilets and hawker centres each year.
“Maybe in 10 years when the ministry completes 50,000 public facilities … maybe that’s the time (to have local council elections),” he said in jest.
FACTUALLY WRONG & RACIST
Local elections in Malaysia were suspended in the 1960s and replaced by a system of appointed heads, with mayors of city councils as well as presidents of municipal and district councils being appointed by the state governments.
On Dec 17, Kuala Lumpur DAP chairman and Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai called on the federal government to start local government elections in the capital city first to bolster democracy.
However, the suggestion was immediately panned as “insensitive and provocative” by Dr Akmal Saleh, the youth chief of ally party Umno.
It didn't take long before other Malay-centric parties, especially from the opposition, to jump on the bandwagon - labelling local elections as anti-Malay and would allow the Malaysian Chinese to grab their political dominance.
In a post on X on Monday, Pas commissioner Azhar Yahya warned local council elections would result in "monopoly" by the Malaysian Chinese.
“What guarantees are there that Malays will win seats and have a majority voice to ensure that the rights and privileges of Islam and Malays are preserved as stipulated in Article 3 of the Federal Constitution?” wrote Azhar.
Pas Youth chief Azmer Syazwan also claimed that Kok Wai's call has triggered “disharmony among the people” - lodging a police report against the DAP man for sparking "racial tensions".
In retaliation, the youth wing of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's PKR party has lodged its own police report - counter-claiming that the Pas commissioner's comments were not only "factually wrong" but was itself racist.
Wangsa Maju police chief Ashari Abu Samah confirmed receiving the PKR man's report, revealing that the case had been referred to the Bukit Aman classified crime investigation unit as it touches on 3R (race, religion and royalty) issues.
Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now!
Politics Now!
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