KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 — DAP’s Lim Kit Siang continued today to refute the argument that restoring the “third vote” could worsen racial polarisation, citing official figures that show that nearly 90 per cent of the country’s local councils are dominated by the Malays.

The veteran politician said according to the 2010 National Census, 132 out of 148, or 89.2 per cent, of local councils in Malaysia are Malay-centric, while only three councils — Sibu, Kuching Selatan and Penang — are dominated by the Chinese community.

Backed by the figures, Lim urged the Cabinet today to chastise and dissociate itself from the remark made by Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

“Abdul Rahman’s argument that local government elections would promote ‘racial animosity and distrust’ must be slapped down hard by the Cabinet today, as local government is not about racial politics but  about promoting a better quality of life for all ratepayers with safe, efficient and pleasant living environment for all, regardless of race or religion,” he said in a statement.

The 148 local authorities include three city halls, nine city councils, 37 municipal councils and 99 district councils.

The Gelang Patah MP also expressed surprise that the issue of race was still being raised even 50 years after local government elections were abolished.

“If such a reason could be accepted, then it could be extended to the suspension or abolition of State Assembly and Parliamentary elections, resulting in the death of democracy in Malaysia!” Lim warned.

He also urged the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Election Bureau to study whether the federal opposition pact can win the majority of the 41 councils in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Kedah in local elections, where 92 per cent of the authorities have more than 70 per cent majority.

“The issues at stake in the restoration of third vote is about democracy, accountability and good governance and has nothing to do with race,” the DAP veteran leader said.

Citing greater transparency, DAP recently suggested its PR allies adopt Penang’s approach and enact state laws in Selangor and Kelantan to try to return the third vote to Malaysians.

Other politicians, including Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah from Umno, have spoken up in favour of local elections, highlighting that Malaysia had conducted them for 14 years from the 1950s to 1960s until a regional conflict with Indonesia forced the government to issue a temporary suspension order.

Then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman had told Parliament that local elections would resume after the Indonesian Confrontation ended, which happened a year later in 1966.

However, Parliament passed a law in 1976 abolishing local elections, despite the recommendations of a 1968 Royal Commission of Inquiry by Datuk Athi Nahappan, which effectively ended the third vote.