KUALA LUMPUR – Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa will meet with Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming to discuss the proposal for holding local council elections in Kuala Lumpur.
While she does not intend to undermine the importance of the issue, she said there are other matters of higher priority pertaining to the people than the reintroduction of local council elections in Kuala Lumpur.
“The matter is actually under the Local Government Development Ministry. I will discuss with the minister (Nga) myself to see how we can thoroughly address it,” Zaliha told reporters after her inaugural working visit to the Kuala Lumpur City Hall office.
Besides that, the former health minister said that she will leave it up to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to determine whether her current portfolio will be converted to a full ministry or remain under the Prime Minister’s Department.
The Federal Territories Ministry was dissolved after Anwar assumed office last year.
Prior to Zaliha’s appointment as the minister in charge of the department, matters relating to the federal territories were overseen by the prime minister as an agency under his department.
Previously, Federal Territories DAP chief Tan Kok Wai, who is also Cheras MP, called for the reinstatement of local government elections in the nation’s capital first to encourage democracy, as residents would have the right to elect their city council representatives.
Tan’s suggestion was subsequently met with much brickbat from other political parties, such as Umno, the Barisan Nasional lynchpin, and Perikatan Nasional component member PAS.
Umno secretary-general Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said that the party would never agree to the proposal, as the government’s priority should instead be to improve the nation’s prosperity without “dragging citizens into endless political conflicts”.
Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam also slammed Tan for allegedly being part of an internal movement by the “Lim Dynasty” – referring to DAP stalwart Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang and his son Lim Guan Eng – to sabotage DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke’s leadership.
Expressing similar sentiments, Federal Territories PAS commissioner Azhar Yahya said Tan’s proposal could lead to racial monopoly, particularly by the Chinese community, due to the unbalanced racial distribution of constituents in Kuala Lumpur.
Meanwhile, in a statement today, former DAP man P. Ramasamy pointed out that no senior party leader has come forward to support Tan’s “brave and timely” initiative and questioned the party’s apparent silence on the matter.
“I personally think that local government elections can be gradually reintroduced in the country, but I doubt that Tan has the support of his DAP colleagues, especially those at the top.
“It doesn’t matter what the nationalists in Umno and other Malay political parties think about local government elections, but what is the principled stand of the DAP leadership?” the ex-Penang deputy chief minister II asked.
It is reported that the last time Malaysia held a local council election was in 1963. The election, which was supposed to be held the following year, was suspended before the Dewan Rakyat passed the Local Government Act in 1976, which abolished local government elections and provided for the appointment of councillors.
In February this year, Nga, who is also DAP vice-chairman, said that there are no plans for the unity government to introduce local council elections for now as there are other more pressing areas his ministry is working on improving. – December 19, 2023
 Dr Zaliha Mustafa will meet with Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming to discuss the proposal for holding local council elections in Kuala Lumpur.){kind=link}