KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — Segambut Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datuk Loga Bala Mohan has called for the return of local council elections, possibly the first politician from the ruling coalition to do so publicly.
He said, however, that the Federal Territories Ministry, which controls Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), was still needed to generate success in the Federal Territories which comprises the capital city Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, and Labuan.
“Yes but it needs change of law,” Loga Bala, who is MyPPP vice president, told Malay Mail, when asked if he supported restoring local council elections so that Kuala Lumpur would have an elected mayor and local councillors.
“Local council elections are meant to resolve localised issues and grow the local council. I [have] been speaking about it within the BN group,” added the Kuala Lumpur parliamentary candidate.
Loga Bala, who was Federal Territories deputy minister in the previous term, also denied that the ministry or minister controlled the Kuala Lumpur mayor or questioned the latter’s decisions, “only that we show the direction.”
News portal Malaysiakini recently reported caretaker Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin as saying that local council elections would cause too much politicking and make collective decision-making difficult, as an elected local government would comprise representatives from different parties.
The Penang state government under DAP previously tried to hold local government elections, but the Federal Court ruled in 2014 that the state government’s attempt contradicted national policy and that the Local Government Act 1976, which prevents local government elections, was constitutional.
The DAP-PKR-PAS Selangor state government never tried to restore the third vote beyond conducting a study in 2009.
Local council elections were once held between 1951 and 1965, but they were suspended in 1965.
DBKL, Malaysia’s biggest local authority, is under the jurisdiction of the federal government, whereas local councils in other states are under the purview of state governments, who appoint the mayors and local councillors.
In a general election, Kuala Lumpur voters only have one ballot — for their Member of Parliament, while voters in other states vote in both their MP and state assemblyman.
On the question of restoring local council elections, Loga Bala Mohan’s opponent in the Segambut race Hannah Yeoh said she believed in elected positions for “anyone” who made policies affecting taxpayers.
“This includes ministers and deputy ministers, ie no to backdoor appointment via senatorship,” Yeoh told Malay Mail.
When pressed further on whether Pakatan Harapan (PH) would restore the third vote if it won federal government, the DAP politician cited the coalition’s manifesto, which merely states that local councils’ “accountability to the local community will be improved.”
DAP and PKR previously campaigned in the 2008 general election on local council elections.
