Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Discrepancy in MBPJ Council List

This is an update to the post I wrote a few days ago with regards to a press statement issued by my DAP colleague, ADUN for Kg Tunku with regards to certain potential discrepancy in the local council appointments in MBPJ.

In MBPJ, it was announced that there will be a total of 24 new councilors of which four of them are from PAS, seven from PKR and six from DAP, with the remaining seven councilorship to be appointed from non-partisan nominees, i.e. NGOs and RAs in Petaling Jaya.

It is an important change, when compared to the previous Barisan Nasional Government, that NGO members are appointed to the local council to ensure increased transparency and good governance, and to ensure special and needy interest groups are taken into account, such as the appointment of Anthony Thanasayan, president of the Animal Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association.

However, I have been informed that a member of a political party replaced a non-partisan local Petaling Jaya residents' association president under the NGO quota in MBPJ. In addition, I've been made to understand that this was done at the very last minute to avoid possible objections to the move.

I'd like to express my regret and disappointment that such action has blemished an otherwise excellent step taken by the Selangor state government to include NGO participation while waiting for the local government to be democratically elected in the near future.

I'd like to call upon the Selangor state government to review its decision, to ensure that all party members are placed strictly within the party quotas i.e., 7 from PKR, 6 from DAP and 4 from PAS and only genuine and reputable NGO members as well as leaders of local residents' associations are given strict priority.

I would also be interested to find out if the above is happening to other local councils as well in Selangor.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Tony,

It's great that a system is put in place such as that introduced by the current state government.

However, what is your take on the current cracks appearing within PR? Especially in terms of the discrepancy in policies and ideologies.

I assume you're well-versed in Bahasa Malaysia, so do visit

http://umnodu.blogspot.com

Regards,

UMNO Grassroot D.U

Anonymous said...

Are you stupid or what? Can't you go to the MB or the Local Govt leader Ronnie Liu and consult with him? Must you publicise it to get credit? Isn't this dividing PR? You are an amateur politician playing into the hands of BN and UMNO. Learn the ropes and do an inside work before you hand over the hanging rope to UMNO. Huh!

Anonymous said...

Tony,

This is not how politics is done. You are part of the Selangor govt in the sense that you are a Selangor MP from the PR coalition, talk to them and see what's done and if the person appointed who was said to be a "social activist" is the same or not. Your action is interesting indeed. It is like how you answered the questions on Malaysia-Today face-to-face which were off the mark and showed lack of political maturity and manuavering.


That said, I'm aware that a certain DAP ADUN has been under pressure from a president of a resident association to be appointed, which is lobbying and political demogoguery. So one wonders what's going on. Is the DAP ADUN feeling the heat and tha's why he is making too much noise? And how comes it is only the DAP ADUN/MPs and not PAS ADUNs and MPs have raised the question? What's going on? Clean your house, things are getting out of hand and don't wash your dirty linen outside.

Anonymous said...

All this news do not help PK.

Continue like this at your own demise. Discard the opposition mentality and start governing. Do not win on angry (against BN) votes, it won't last and as a matter of fact, it is subsiding. I sincerely wish to see 2 party system, but so far I hate to say it but PR is not exactly living up to it.

Bentoh said...

Ah well... let's summarise some of the comments into:

1. Please diam diam sit there don't say anything

2. You are pakatan rakyat MP so you are automatically a member of Selangor state government, so you can do whatever you want inside the government...

Oh well... makes you wonder why there should be question time allocated to the backbencher in the House in both state and federal level... You are government mah... go ask inside people ok already lor... apasah you tanya tanya di parliament/DUN?

================================

as for the "under pressure"... maybe DAP is... who knows...

Bentoh said...

Oh and by the way... this post makes you look more and more like an MCA plant... get ready for the heat from someone in the blogosphere... ;)

Anonymous said...

"Can't you go to the MB or the Local Govt leader Ronnie Liu and consult with him? "

That sounds to me like the typical Barisan Nasional approach of "we have our internal channels". That doesn't seem to work very well because it takes us away from the path of accountability and transparency.

The other commenter seems to suggest that the ADUN who first made noise about this (Lau Weng San?) is under pressure from a lobby... there might be truth to this, and if there is evidence to support it then there should be answers for that as well.

Hey, the honeymoon is over la, now the hard work begins.

Anonymous said...

gomen gomen...

wat r u doing? Please be sincere and truthful!

Think of the ppl not urself!

Anonymous said...

MP Pua, I'm sure that you can do something about this as the MP for Petaling Jaya and with the strong DAP presence in the Selangor State Govt. I urge you to take a pro-active approach and keep us updated with your efforts in this matter.

Anonymous said...

pj boy, why this use of personal insults? There are more ways to criticize a person and demonstrating your unhappiness with Tony Pua's performance as a MP besides acting like a hooligan by name calling.

Anonymous said...

Tony a MCA plant..? My, how fickle and knee-jerk the voters are.

No wonder you deserve the alleged RM360 billion to be lost?

Where were you jerks when the government have been repeatedly doing IDIOTIC things over the past 20 years?

So now, can't you spare a bit of compassion and encouragement for one of the Opposition MPs like Tony to let him do his job?

Have some faith in him, don't be a backseat driver. Otherwise, YOU sacrifice your comfortable life and run for Opposition MP. Then, we will expect YOU to be 100% perfect. Make ONE mistake, or make ONE ambigous blog post, and we will remove your balls.

Can't do that? Then shut up, or at least be more polite to the YANG BERHORMAT in order to ask him to explain his blog post.

Anonymous said...

Now only you know it is not easy to be at government, opposition is much easier job. We are disappointed that PK appoint those NGO which may consists of 15 members and claim to represent PJ residents welfare. God bless you!!!
DAP even makes a policy, wear Songkok because it is a respect to someone. Then ask Tan Kok Wai to apologise his mistakes many many years ago when he used Kee Yong Wee's songkok photo to win the Cheras seat.

Anonymous said...

YB Pua,

Well, in the first place you need to check with the relevant person(s) on the selection of councillors before coming out with comments which is detrimental to the spirit of PR government. In this instance it would have been Ronny Liu who is your comrade in arms.
Your action could destabilise the PR govt of which you are part of the whole equation. The opposition parties then tried very hard to unseat the BN govt whose policies and implementation were repressive and arrogant. The PR had won and now we see that you are one of the few who is trying to bring down the PR govt.

Please do give the PR govt a chance to rule and to demonstrate to the rakyat that the PR govt is definitely a class above the BN. Afterall , this selection of councillors is only a minor hiccup in decision making which any new govt will make.

There are bigger issues than this to look after in the adminstration of the state.

I would suggest that any differences of opinion in selection should be brought up to the party first rather than gaining media publicity.

My last question to you is : Do you sincerely believe that you would like a comeback of the BN into the state govt ? By your very action you would give the rakyat a different perception of the state PR govt.

Golf Afflicted said...

To anon above, and others who are concerned,

3 quick points:

1. Why do you assume that I have not tried other means or contacted the relevant person(s)?

2. If by issuing a simple statement such as above can destabilise the Selangor government, then it's not much of a government isn't it? I think it's certainly made of sterner stuff than that.

3. While I certainly do not want a return of the BN government, but that doesn't mean that I should allow PR to evolve into one that is no different.

Tony

Anonymous said...

Mates,

You all never experienced what is DEMOCRACY - right to express views and views of the area ADUN represented. At least, ADUN is sincere and concerned about certain policy is not right. DAP are unlike PRK and PAS are all yes person. Look at the pig farm. The State Minister for Environment from PKR did not utter a word. That is her job to assure that the project comply the Environment Act. Even issue with PAS, PKR did not express their views. Is PKR favour PAS like islamisation? No sound. LKY wanted PAP members to play some opposition role in order to improve the service.

Anonymous said...

I posted a comment earlier, but somehow it didn't come out.

What I wanted to say is - of late, some of the developments in the S'gor Pakatan Govt have been a cause for concern. I had donated to and voted Opposition (read DAP), hoping for a CHANGE for the BETTER. Now, I fear that we may be slowly sliding into UMNO ways.

What's happened to the clean, transparent, un-BN state government that we were so looking forward to? If PR can lose its lofty principles just 100+ days in power, then surely it has surpassed BN in speed and efficiency!

The way things are going, I think the odds are stacked against S'gor PR in the next elections. Aside for top marks for Hannah Yeoh, Ronnie Liu, Charles Santiago and some of the Malay PKR ladies (sorry don't have the names), the performance of the other ADUNs have been under-whelming. For sure the MB has a tough job, but it looks like we still need to give him a lot of benefit of the doubt.

So, I am very glad that you made a public stand on this issue. It says that you can still see what is right and what is not, and have the integrity to speak up. I absolutely DO NOT agree that you should keep quiet just because you are part of PR. Heck, doing so would make you just like all the Barisan MPs in Parliament - they are people who will vote en bloc no matter what the issue is, as though they are without any opinion, stand or conscience of their own!

I am totally behind any MP or ADUN who is willing to stand up for what is right, including calling their own colleagues or party to order. How will we progress otherwise??

So, Tony - you have done right by us, and may you continue sailing with the right winds of change!!

Regards,
PJU resident

BTW, don't let DAP rest on its laurels. If DAP thinks it has something positive to offer, you need to continue building, and not wait until just before the next elections to campaign. Just see how PAS works in Kelantan.

Anonymous said...

Well said. And I agree to weed out bad apples before they spoil the whole broth.

Anonymous said...

Then why do you and your DAP colleagues always assume MCA, Gerakan, SUPP, MIC, PBS did not try to protect people's interest? Why do you always criticise MCA Selling off Chinse right? Now DAP selling off Selangor/PJ residents welfare. Di Selangor, PKR tidak begitu kuat berbanding dengan UMNO sebelum Mac 8, 2008. Pun DAP sudah kena tipu. Apa lagi MCA, Gerakan dulu!

Anonymous said...

the name callings are really low. For those who supported the PR in the last GE and voted for "change"..what u wanted was a different style of governance..and if you condemn this act of speaking against own party for the sake of unity and consistency in voice..then what change do you have in mind? The criticism against whipping system and en bloc voting is still fresh in our minds, is it not hypocritical that u demand the invisible whip here, the cover up and dun wash ur dirty linen in public front that u accused the previous government for?

Along the same vein, would also like ur take on the appoinment of one Mr Abdul Aziz Ahmad as a local councilor for Ampang Jaya. news has it that the NGO that he is suppose to be from has never heard of him and that he is not a member of the association. Whilst the last min replacement of the position for a NGO rep with a politician "blemished an otherwise excellent step taken by the Selangor state gov", if the news of the appointment of the MPAJ councilor is true, it will crush the faith of the ppl on the PR to do good in Selangor.

For ur courage to speak up against the party flow, I applaud u. That u remember ur mandate is owed to the people and conscience is to stand before God knowing u did the best for the people.

Anonymous said...

To anon UMNO-cybertrooper above:

Because it's obvious to everyone except you that if MCA, Gerakan, and all other UMNO cronies have been prioritizing the people's interest, then we won't have to deal with crap like RM380B lost through corruption, fixed judges, torn-down temples, university quotas, 5-15% off housing based on race only (even billionaire Bumi's who don't need help can get this discount), unfair scholarships (probably need 25 A's for non-Bumi to get one) etc etc etc etc etc etc ad infinitum.

Did they MCA, Gerakan etc say even a squeak about all this to UMNO for the progress of the country?

Go back to your hole and your UMNO forums. The vast majority of readers here support DAP, that's why they come here lah, stupid. They won't be swayed by your nonsensical comment.

Golf Afflicted said...

Hi Theva,

I was a little reluctant to publish your comments (despite your support) but I thought I'll publish it, but giving some additional notes below:

1. I disagree with the claim that Anon 6.22am is a cyber-trooper from UMNO. I don't think it matters where he's from, he made a point without disparaging anybody at a personal level. I didn't agree with what he said, but I noted his views.

2. I disagree that people who visit this blog should just be DAP supporters. I would encourage more UMNO, MCA, MIC or PKR, pAS members to come so that views can be shared, and I will have the opportunity to present my ideas to them as well. Otherwise, I'll just become like the BN bloggers who couldn't take all the negative comments and stopped all comments on their blogs. What's the point of just preaching to the converted?

Tony

Anonymous said...

Anon 6.22am:
For the last 40 years, I voted for PAP/DAP. But I also know there are many constraints to be in the Govt. Compared to MCA/PBS/Gerakan, DAP is at a much comfort position in Selangor/Perak. In Penang DAP can even have formed state Govt by itself. But you still have to go through such bitter experience. I pity for those DAP idealistic supporters who are so short-sighted.

Anonymous said...

Hi Tony,

I was disappointed with PR. PR said that they will be non partisan in appointing local council members and appoint local residents, NGOs' etc to be in the council. But as evidenced now, it's still the same old habit, once you are in power, you need to appoint your own party members.
Do you mean to say that these party members are more qualified than local residents who live at their respective areas to be in the council and to serve the local council?

Anonymous said...

Tony,

It seen it is easier to comments & complaints than dealing with it when facing with the real works & issues.

When as minority & as opposition Lim & Co blown up minor issue regarding “songkok”. Now in power in Perak & Selangor, kept saying must follow protocol. Where is the principle? Flip-flop in PR policy for council appointment and PKR supporters requesting for more council posts indicating to me, our future might not be better off even PR is in charge.

History might be in the past but we definitely can learn from it. Never trust someone who also play a role during TDM regime when all the ills occurred