JOHOR BARU, Oct 24 — Johor exco Dzulkefly Ahmad has denied that the appointment of village heads in the state was conducted by the state government without any prior consultation after several PKR grassroots leaders claimed that some appointees were ‘unqualified.’
The housing and rural regional development committee chairman told Malay Mail when contacted that the appointment of all 674 village heads in Johor was agreed upon by Pakatan Harapan leaders at the state and parliamentary level.
“Please bear in mind that the appointment of the village heads is not permanent as their performance and work will be reviewed from time-to-time,” said Dzulkefly, adding that such issues should have been discussed internally and not out in the open as the PH administration was still new in governing Johor.
Earlier today, a group of PKR grassroots leaders questioned the appointment of the village heads at a press conference.
Taman Pelangi youth chief Ramli Hanes said the appointment of 20 village heads was being disputed.
“Basically, we want to voice our displeasure as the latest list shows those appointed are people not known to the villagers themselves. As a Pakatan Harapan government, the leadership needs to show fairness and transparency in such appointments,” he said.
“We will call for an immediate boycott of the appointments pending a discussion with the PH state leaders,” Ramli said, adding that the group was also considering sending a memorandum to Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Osman Sapian and the state PKR leadership.
He said the issue must be addressed by Osman as the appointment went against Pakatan Harapan’s spirit.
PKR Bakar Batu branch youth chief, Mohamed Izani Zulkifli also told the press conference that the appointees did not have any basic knowledge of how to be a village chief, or even experience in spiritual matters.
“Some of them are not even known to the surau or mosque congregation and have no basic education. How can such individuals be selected in the first place?” Mohamed Izani asked.
Ramli and Mohamed Izani, who are from the Johor Baru PKR division, said they represented Bakar Batu, Taman Pelangi, Sentosa, Tebrau, Kampung Melayu and Larkin branches which were affected by the appointments that were not candidates chosen by the villagers
Separately, Gelang Patah PKR vice-chief Abdul Manan Othman said based on an agreement made within PH, it was agreed that the posts would be divided fairly among Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) and PKR with a ratio of 4:4:3.
“The discussion for the village head posts has been held after the general election and we already notified them on which villages we want our representatives to lead.
“However, we are disappointed that three names have been overlooked despite the chosen candidates attending the interview session at the district office,” he said.
Abdul Manan claimed that based on the list that was leaked on social media, Amanah holds the majority of village posts, followed by PPBM, while PKR has only one.
“The division is allocated the Kampung Batu 10 village head post but it was given to a PKR Pulai division member who just joined the party,” he said, adding that there were better qualified people from the Gelang Patah division.
Abdul Manan also said that the appointment letters would be handed out by the state government on November 1 but he hopes that state government will review the candidates’ appointment again before they become official.
