Squabbles over councillors
Politicking in Selangor has delayed appointments of these positions which are seen as a stepping-stone towards higher posts.
Brian Martin, The Star
THE manner in which the recent appointment of 224 councillors in Selangor was made is indicative of the level of politics that is present in local government today.
Selangor Local Government and Research Committee chairman Datuk Teng Chang Khim made the announcement on Monday but, as of today, the new batch of councillors have yet to receive their appointment letters.
The appointments were delayed for more than a month because the political parties in the Pakatan-led government could not agree on the choice of councillors or the number of vacancies to be allocated to each party.
This delay is not surprising because every single appointment period since June 2008 has been delayed – the 2014-2015 batch of councillors is the fifth term for this state government.
What is unusual is that there are 55 seats yet to be filled in the various city and municipal councils.
When these positions will be filled is anyone’s guess.
Councillors are key components of local government, and the delay in appointments has meant that the monthly full board meetings were cancelled in January.
No by-laws or council laws could be endorsed during this period.
This sorry state of affairs – where local government is unable to function effectively – can be traced to the in-fighting that goes on every time a new council term comes up.
I spoke to a three-term Petaling Jaya city councillor and his revelations were an eye-opener for me.
“The delay this time was caused by PKR.
“The state government had already received the preferred candidates list from PAS and DAP but was forced to delay appointments because the PKR leadership themselves could not agree on their own list,’’ he alleged.
He explained that all three parties are given roughly 25% of the total number of vacancies.
The balance is meant for the NGO quota.
“The problem is even the NGO quota has been abused in recent years with some of these spots going to people who are close to the political parties.
“I myself was among the first batch of Pakatan councillors in June 2008, picked under the DAP ticket, but I have yet to become a party member until today.’’
Why is there so much jostling for a councillorship?
It can’t be the money.
Each councillor receives RM1,500 monthly allowance and an additional phone allowance of RM200.
In addition, he or she gets free medical treatment at local government clinics and free parking in the municipality.
Other benefits include RM150 for each committee meeting attended and RM200 for each full board meeting.
“Councillors cannot survive on their allowances alone and that’s why the majority have day jobs,’’ my source told me.
What, then, is the attraction?
A number of councillors have used their positions as stepping-stones to greater things.
For example, ex-Kajang assemblyman Lee Chin Cheh is a practising lawyer who previously served as a MBPJ councillor and Tiew Way Keng, the Teratai assemblyman, was also a former MBPJ councillor.
Kinrara assemblyman Ng Sze Han (former MPSJ councillor) and Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajiv Rishya-karan (former MPSJ councillor) were two who made the move up in the recent general election.
“The other ‘benefit’ of being a councillor is access to contracts.
“Lots of contracts like rubbish collection, cutting trees, minor road repairs, etc, are decided in committee meetings chaired by councillors,’’ my source said, inferring that councillors were in constant contact with external contractors.
However, an old friend who used to be an MBPJ councillor put a different spin to the job.
“It’s a thankless job. People think it’s glamourous and comes with a lot of influence. The truth is I attended two to three meetings a week, each lasting a minimum of three hours and on top of that, I was always summoned to meet residents who complained over the smallest of things.
“We were paid peanuts for the amount of work we did,’’ he added.
Executive editor Brian Martin is amazed that 24 councillors (each paid a paltry monthly allowance of RM1,500) oversee MBPJ’s annual budget of RM300mil.
