Nod for Selangor govt, says survey

(The Sun Daily) – Some 54% out of 6,436 respondents in Selangor say the Selangor state government is moving in the right direction in terms of social, economic and political issues.

The basic appraisal survey to improve local councils’ performance results were revealed by Local Government, Study and Research committee chairman Datuk Teng Chang Khim at a press conference today.

“We are happy with the results because the survey was conducted amidst issues that have arisen in Selangor recently like, Kidex, water and Bible issue,” he said.

He added that the results showed that people are happy with the state government, but there is still room for improvement.

Good governance, rapid development, a peaceful state, good state concept and principles and good infrastructure conditions were the positive factors that contributed to the results.

The negative factors included water and electricity supply, high living cost, weak or no transparency in governance, crime and public safety, and poor infrastructure conditions.

The survey also revealed that 72% of respondents from the eight local council areas were satisfied with their quality of life.

“However, the respondents believed that if issues like cleanliness, crime, public safety, public infrastructure improvements, good local council management are given more attention, quality of life can be enhanced,” he said.

Some 28% of the respondents also agreed to an increase in assessment rates if quality of services can be enhanced while 54% do not agree, and another 17% had no opinion about it.

“This is the first ever survey conducted in the state and this country, and we are planning to conduct this every six months,” Teng said.

The local councils involved were Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ), Shah Alam City Council (MBSA), Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ), Klang Municipal Council (MPK), Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ), Kajang Municipal Council (MPKj), Sepang Municipal Council (MPSp) and Selayang Municipal Council (MPS).

The overall local councils performances registered MPSJ and MPSp as the highest with 67% respectively followed by MBPJ with 64%, MBSA with 63%, MPK with 62%,MPS with 61%, and MPKj and MPAJ with 58%.

The survey also revealed that 48% of respondents have never had any contact or communication with their local councils.