‘Colonial’ rulers of the FTs?
Maria Chin AbdullahPublished: Jul 8, 2014 10:00 PM | Updated: Jul 9, 2014 4:40 AM
When Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor made a ban on all soup kitchens within a 2km radius of the city centre starting from Lot 10, the very heartbeat of tourism for Kuala Lumpur, he came under severe attacks from all quarters.
When Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor made a ban on all soup kitchens within a 2km radius of the city centre starting from Lot 10, the very heartbeat of tourism for Kuala Lumpur, he came under severe attacks from all quarters.
Many critics, even from within Umno, saw this move as uncompassionate when Tengku Adnan thoughtlessly timed his announcement during Ramadan, a month when Muslims are to find spiritual balance, peace and to avoid ill speech, arguments, loss of temper and malicious behaviour.
Ignoring all comments, TengkuAdnan stayed focused on his mission to “clean up” the city of all ills and unsightlessness and went straight for what he perceived as the vagrants, homeless and jobless.
Tengku Adnan’s action, I must say, was in support of the Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Abdul Karim. She started the war against the homelessness and accused soup kitchens, with their “misplaced generosity”, of making it difficult to tackle the problem.
Rohani promptly proposed an amendment to the Destitute Persons Act, 1977 to allow more executive powers for officials to round up and detain homeless people into camps for up to three years. Resisting such harassment can result in imprisonment.
Criminalising the homeless is not the solution. There are about 1,500 homeless people in KL city, accordingly to a street survey carried out by Kechara Soup Kitchen in April 2014, and with two-thirds of them aged between 30 and 60.
Yet there is only a single government-run shelter, which provides beds for 76 people and allows them to stay for no more than two weeks. Placing the ban will only result in possible underground activities as not all urban poor can move out of the 2km ban.
That Tengku Adnan and the women’s minister lack compassion or even have a heart is beyond question. The question we must ask is: what kind of city will breed such compassionless and heartless politicians?
Behaving like colonial governors
One obvious answer is a city without elections. Like it or not, elections force politicians to woo votes, if possible from every walk of life.
Without elections, politicians are likely to be free to act at whim without being accountable to the people’s interest.
Tengku Adnan is one such free politician. He is elected as the parliamentarian for the Federal Territory of Putrajaya, which is packed with civil servants who often feel the pressure to vote for the ruling coalition.
Tengku Adnan is then made the federal territories minister by the prime minister. He and the Kuala Lumpur mayor run the federal capital like colonial governors - answerable only to their political masters and not to the people they govern.
The Kuala Lumpur voters can curse him as much as they like. But they can never sack him without first sacking the prime minister, or effectively threatening the latter with such prospect.
Colonial? Yes. The American Revolution, one of the world’s earliest anti-colonisation war, was fought not because the rulers were of a different stock from the ruled, but simply because of “taxation without representation”.
In 1965, Tunku’s Alliance government suspended our local council elections under a proclamation of emergency amidst the Indonesia-staged Confrontation.
When the royal commission of inquiry to investigate into the workings of local authorities in west malaysia (the royal commission), led by Athi Nahappan, strongly recommended the return of elected local councillors later in the same year, the report’s recommendation was rejected.
Now 49 years after the end of the Confrontation, local elections are still not restored.
From 1976 onwards, in the 13 states, local councils have become a ‘buy-one-get one-free’ item in state elections. You vote in a state government, the state government will give you the appointed local councils.
You want to sack your mayor and local council, sack the state government first.
The Federal Territories, namely Kuala Lumpur crafted out from Selangor in 1974, Labuan from Sabah in 1991 and Putrajaya from Selangor again in 2001, are simply run by bureaucratic entities like DBKL, the Labuan Corporation and Putrajaya Corporation - don’t the last two names remind you of the ‘British North Borneo Company’?
These territories don’t even have politicians as appointed local councilors to act as a link between the authorities and the public.
If you are not happy with these federally-appointed bureaucrats, you cannot feel free to sack the federal government. Unlike in the local governments in the 13 states, you can’t even just choose to sack the state government, because there is not one!
When the opposition-leaning Kuala Lumpur was crafted out from Selangor and made the first Federal Territory in 1974,it was to ensure that the ruling coalition would not possibly lose the state elections in Selangor as they almost did in 1969, and have no state elections in Kuala Lumpur at all to lose even a single seat.
Anyone wonders now why development projects in Kuala Lumpur have gone unchecked?
Blowing away people’s views
It has come to a point when it really does not matter what people say about the proposed 118-storey Menara Warisan Merdeka which encroach into some of KL’s heritage buildings and cultural sites or the Bukit Gasing controversy where green lung was hacked away for development.
The federally-appointed rulers of Kuala Lumpur do what they want and literally blow away people’s views on welfare, services and development.
It cannot be underscored too much that local government elections and local representation are the bedrock of meaningful democracy.
People elected locally to represent their communities are more connected, have a greater understanding, and are better equipped to handle the interest of their communities.
Coupled with mechanisms like Freedom of Information laws, people and communities are able then to hold elected officials accountable and transparent and make the officials dishing policies and implementing action plans that best serve the people’s needs and interests.
The officials, regardless of personal views and attitudes, will have to act in a manner determined by a standard set by the system.
If voters cannot make the federal territories minister and the Kuala Lumpur mayor jobless, why should the minister and mayor care about homeless citizens of Kuala Lumpur?
Yes we may pick on the heartlessness of Tengku Adnan, Rohani or the invisible mayor of Kuala Lumpur, or their eagerness to impress foreign tourists than to care about their own fellow compatriots.
But seriously, the thrust of the matter is really the failure of democracy here. We have a system that gives urban poor no bearing at all on the career of mayors and ministers.
Time to bring back local elections
It’s time for Pakatan Rakyat to not just hit at Tengku Adnan and company, but to bring back local elections, which they have promised directly or indirectly in Selangor.
Granted, the Penang state government has put in a legal challenge at the Federal Court on Section 15 of the Local Government Act 1976 which is used by the federal government as the excuse to disallow local elections.
But it has been long pointed out by civil society that state governments can by-pass the legal route by having ‘mock elections’, whereby the voters vote only for ‘nominees to local councils’ and the state government just appoints the winners.
Such a proposal has in fact been discussed in Selangor, but nothing has happened six years after Pakatan Rakyat came to power.
It’s time for the three Pakatan Rakyat states to show the Federal Territories what it means to be inclusive, participatory, accountable, effective and have compassionate governance through elected local governments.
After all, returning the third vote to the citizens is the only real solution to make Tengku Adnan, Rohani and the invisible Kuala Lumpur mayor care about the homeless and other Malaysians.
MARIA CHIN ABDULLAH is the chairperson for the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections 2.0 (Bersih 2.0) and the executive director of Empower. She believes politicians are bad masters if not made good servants through free, fair and competitive elections. Bersih 2.0 is organising a fund-raising dinner on Aug 8. More information here.
Many critics, even from within Umno, saw this move as uncompassionate when Tengku Adnan thoughtlessly timed his announcement during Ramadan, a month when Muslims are to find spiritual balance, peace and to avoid ill speech, arguments, loss of temper and malicious behaviour.
Ignoring all comments, TengkuAdnan stayed focused on his mission to “clean up” the city of all ills and unsightlessness and went straight for what he perceived as the vagrants, homeless and jobless.Tengku Adnan’s action, I must say, was in support of the Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Abdul Karim. She started the war against the homelessness and accused soup kitchens, with their “misplaced generosity”, of making it difficult to tackle the problem.
Rohani promptly proposed an amendment to the Destitute Persons Act, 1977 to allow more executive powers for officials to round up and detain homeless people into camps for up to three years. Resisting such harassment can result in imprisonment.
Criminalising the homeless is not the solution. There are about 1,500 homeless people in KL city, accordingly to a street survey carried out by Kechara Soup Kitchen in April 2014, and with two-thirds of them aged between 30 and 60.
Yet there is only a single government-run shelter, which provides beds for 76 people and allows them to stay for no more than two weeks. Placing the ban will only result in possible underground activities as not all urban poor can move out of the 2km ban.
That Tengku Adnan and the women’s minister lack compassion or even have a heart is beyond question. The question we must ask is: what kind of city will breed such compassionless and heartless politicians?
Behaving like colonial governors
One obvious answer is a city without elections. Like it or not, elections force politicians to woo votes, if possible from every walk of life.
Without elections, politicians are likely to be free to act at whim without being accountable to the people’s interest.
Tengku Adnan is one such free politician. He is elected as the parliamentarian for the Federal Territory of Putrajaya, which is packed with civil servants who often feel the pressure to vote for the ruling coalition.Tengku Adnan is then made the federal territories minister by the prime minister. He and the Kuala Lumpur mayor run the federal capital like colonial governors - answerable only to their political masters and not to the people they govern.
The Kuala Lumpur voters can curse him as much as they like. But they can never sack him without first sacking the prime minister, or effectively threatening the latter with such prospect.
Colonial? Yes. The American Revolution, one of the world’s earliest anti-colonisation war, was fought not because the rulers were of a different stock from the ruled, but simply because of “taxation without representation”.
In 1965, Tunku’s Alliance government suspended our local council elections under a proclamation of emergency amidst the Indonesia-staged Confrontation.
When the royal commission of inquiry to investigate into the workings of local authorities in west malaysia (the royal commission), led by Athi Nahappan, strongly recommended the return of elected local councillors later in the same year, the report’s recommendation was rejected.
Now 49 years after the end of the Confrontation, local elections are still not restored.
From 1976 onwards, in the 13 states, local councils have become a ‘buy-one-get one-free’ item in state elections. You vote in a state government, the state government will give you the appointed local councils.
You want to sack your mayor and local council, sack the state government first.
The Federal Territories, namely Kuala Lumpur crafted out from Selangor in 1974, Labuan from Sabah in 1991 and Putrajaya from Selangor again in 2001, are simply run by bureaucratic entities like DBKL, the Labuan Corporation and Putrajaya Corporation - don’t the last two names remind you of the ‘British North Borneo Company’?
These territories don’t even have politicians as appointed local councilors to act as a link between the authorities and the public.
If you are not happy with these federally-appointed bureaucrats, you cannot feel free to sack the federal government. Unlike in the local governments in the 13 states, you can’t even just choose to sack the state government, because there is not one!
When the opposition-leaning Kuala Lumpur was crafted out from Selangor and made the first Federal Territory in 1974,it was to ensure that the ruling coalition would not possibly lose the state elections in Selangor as they almost did in 1969, and have no state elections in Kuala Lumpur at all to lose even a single seat.
Anyone wonders now why development projects in Kuala Lumpur have gone unchecked?
Blowing away people’s views
It has come to a point when it really does not matter what people say about the proposed 118-storey Menara Warisan Merdeka which encroach into some of KL’s heritage buildings and cultural sites or the Bukit Gasing controversy where green lung was hacked away for development.The federally-appointed rulers of Kuala Lumpur do what they want and literally blow away people’s views on welfare, services and development.
It cannot be underscored too much that local government elections and local representation are the bedrock of meaningful democracy.
People elected locally to represent their communities are more connected, have a greater understanding, and are better equipped to handle the interest of their communities.
Coupled with mechanisms like Freedom of Information laws, people and communities are able then to hold elected officials accountable and transparent and make the officials dishing policies and implementing action plans that best serve the people’s needs and interests.
The officials, regardless of personal views and attitudes, will have to act in a manner determined by a standard set by the system.
If voters cannot make the federal territories minister and the Kuala Lumpur mayor jobless, why should the minister and mayor care about homeless citizens of Kuala Lumpur?
Yes we may pick on the heartlessness of Tengku Adnan, Rohani or the invisible mayor of Kuala Lumpur, or their eagerness to impress foreign tourists than to care about their own fellow compatriots.
But seriously, the thrust of the matter is really the failure of democracy here. We have a system that gives urban poor no bearing at all on the career of mayors and ministers.
Time to bring back local elections
It’s time for Pakatan Rakyat to not just hit at Tengku Adnan and company, but to bring back local elections, which they have promised directly or indirectly in Selangor.
Granted, the Penang state government has put in a legal challenge at the Federal Court on Section 15 of the Local Government Act 1976 which is used by the federal government as the excuse to disallow local elections.
But it has been long pointed out by civil society that state governments can by-pass the legal route by having ‘mock elections’, whereby the voters vote only for ‘nominees to local councils’ and the state government just appoints the winners.Such a proposal has in fact been discussed in Selangor, but nothing has happened six years after Pakatan Rakyat came to power.
It’s time for the three Pakatan Rakyat states to show the Federal Territories what it means to be inclusive, participatory, accountable, effective and have compassionate governance through elected local governments.
After all, returning the third vote to the citizens is the only real solution to make Tengku Adnan, Rohani and the invisible Kuala Lumpur mayor care about the homeless and other Malaysians.
MARIA CHIN ABDULLAH is the chairperson for the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections 2.0 (Bersih 2.0) and the executive director of Empower. She believes politicians are bad masters if not made good servants through free, fair and competitive elections. Bersih 2.0 is organising a fund-raising dinner on Aug 8. More information here.
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