An elected local government is urgently needed to treat the administrative malady crippling the system with regulatory non-compliance and a total lack of accountability, a public forum on the restoration of the third vote was told.

Urban governance expert Dr Goh Ban Lee, a Universiti Sains Malaysia lecturer in Penang, said it was timely to restore local government elections given the increasing number of maladministration cases.

"An elected local government will not solve all the problems but considering all the pros and cons, it's time to bring back the local elections," he told about 240 participants in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

The public forum is among the activities organised by the DAP for its 'Restore Our Third Vote' national campaign launched on March 1 at Dataran Merdeka, which also saw the arrest of two elected representatives, party leaders and members.

The campaign marks the 40th year since the government outlawed local government elections.

Goh said most of the time, the laws and policies cannot be blamed because the problem lay in the non-compliance by local authorities.

"The fact is that when there is non-compliance, local residents can sue the local government for decisions that are made ultra vires or in breach of existing laws."

He said the standard procedure is to do everything as prescribed by law except in a situation similar to the Scandinavian local authorities where the laws stipulate the specific prohibitions.

Serious repercussions

Lawyer and human rights advocate Ramdas Tikamdas said the abolition of local elections through the Local Government Act 1976 has led to a "truncated and incomplete franchise".

"The absence of local government elections has had serious repercussions on how Parliament works," he said.

"Many members of Parliament are ignorant or unaware of the reason for being elected to the country's highest house of representatives."

Right now, he said, MPs were going to the grassroots granting scholarships and posing for photographs with oversized mock cheques, which should fall under locally-elected representatives.

He said the campaign to restore local government elections is important because it introduces to all Malaysians the missing link within the democratic process.

"Our young don't know or have never experienced the third vote. Slowly, people will realise its importance.

"Here, all institutions, non-governmental organisations and residents associations have a role to play in an issue which cuts across party politics," he explained to malaysiakini later.

Ramdas also cautioned against any wrongful assumption that the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government would be opposed to local government elections especially after the landslide victory in the last general election which saw it secure over 90 percent support.

"Bringing the direct vote down to the grassroots could help reduce money politics that has afflicted some of the component parties," he explained.

"Aspiring leaders will no longer have to depend on nominations but can instead offer themselves directly to people on the ground."

He also dismissed the possibility of the BN supporting the restoration of local government elections to effectively wipe out the opposition parties because "some urban centers won't support them".

Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng delivered a keynote address while Cheras MP and campaign committee chair Tan Kok Wai gave an opening speech.

The half-day forum was chaired by DAP International Secretary and NGO Bureau chief Ronnie Liu.

'Trouble-makers'

Social scientist Prof P Ramasamy illustrated the need for local elections through the RM1.5 billion incinerator project in Broga near his home in Taman Tasik Semenyih.

"Local residents were never consulted about the project. Many of us learnt about it after buying property there two years ago because we wanted to be close to nature in its most pristine condition," he said.

"Instead, we were branded as trouble-makers and opposition members when we sought answers from the local state assemblyperson, MP, state government and the minister in charge."

Describing the present system of local government as "a mere appendage of state or federal government", Ramasamy said the campaign should not be seen as a DAP issue.

"The third vote is about us citizens having control over our immediate environment. It is the closest thing to a government mechanism," he said.

Noting the growing middle-class in Malaysia, he believed that more people now wanted a say in the decision-making process that affects the daily lives of the people.

He said the third vote was also important given the structural constraints hampering the effectiveness of NGOs and trade unions.

"We want power from below, not the top-down approach. We want to have our say in how things are done and those that need to be done on our behalf.

"The third vote is essentially a citizenship movement irrespective of ethnic or religion background or political affiliation."

Dying democracy

Social activist Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim, who works closely with marginalised communities, said Malaysia had a "dying democracy" which needs to be revived immediately.

"The entire nation is in trouble. We have seen sparks of people's power and we need to provide a mechanism, through the third vote, for this to spread," he said.

"What we have now is a story of the state ganging up against its citizens because every time there is a problem, we only see the police, Special Branch and everyone else but not the developers or land owners."

He believed that ordinary people must gain the confidence and be afforded the means to fight for their basic rights.

"Ordinary people usually don't take to the streets unless they are deprived of what is rightfully theirs or denied the means to seek legitimate redress.

Mohd Nasir said what the authorities feared most was ordinary people demanding their rights in a democratic platform such as a local government election.