KUCHING, Dec 11 — Sarawak Bersih today called on the state government to lead by example and bring back local council elections to Sarawak, after the federal government rejected any move to hold local council elections in Malaysia.

Its chairman Ann Teo said Sarawak has the power to decide on local council elections since it has its own local government ordinance.

"Historically and through the pre-formation of Malaysia documentation, like the Inter-Governmental Committee Report 1962, the autonomy to run its local government including that to conduct local government elections for its local authorities was among one of the powers retained by Sarawak upon its entry as part of the Federation of Malaysia,” she said.

She added the local government also appears as an item in the State List of the Federal Constitution to this day.

Teo also said Sarawak has the necessary experience in conducting elections to elect councillors to the local authorities going back to 1948 based on the Local Government Elections Ordinance, 1948 (Cap 118) and Local Authorities Ordinance, 1948 (Cap 117).

"We should have continued holding these elections as we have been holding the elections to the State Legislative Assembly and Parliament regularly,” she said, adding that the state’s established system of electoral college was even lauded by the Cobbold Commision in its report,” she said.

Teo said Sarawak’s first Chief Minister Tan Sri Stephen Kalong Ningkan was elected a district councillor, then a divisional councillor, and finally a member of the State Legislature, and a member of the Supreme Council in 1963.

She said these elections were abolished in the 1980s for reasons which were not widely known to the general public.

Teo said Sarawak Bersih is of the view that having local government elections will strengthen grassroots democracy and participation in decision-making among communities that are often already bonded by local ties.

"These kinds of elections would provide a good start and a good training ground for young people who aspire to be future peoples representatives at a state or national levels.

"If they are elected councillors they would have already learnt about budgets, taxes and levies and other basics of good governance, accountability and integrity in the running of local government,” she added.

Teo said it would be beneficial for the rate-payers and citizens as a whole because non-partisan local government elections would mean that councillors are accountable to the voters and taxpayers who voted them in.

She said issues close to the hearts of residents and locals like low-cost housing, town or country planning including public libraries, recreation and other public amenities and public health ,sanitation and the environment can be better aired and heard by those elected councillors and hence decision-making more reflective of the wishes of the locals.

"In other words, voters and ratepayers would overall be better served by bringing these elections back,” Teo said, adding that having and effective and accountable local councillors and mayors would also free up the state assemblymen or members of Parliament to focus on policy-making and the business of law-making.

Teo said Sarawak Bersih views with great concern the hasty announcement by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday that the federal government did not intend to implement local council elections.

She said this was despite an earlier statement by federal Minister of Housing and Local Government  Zuraida Kamarudin  that her ministry was currently conducting a study on the proposal to bring back local council elections.