AGORA Society is disappointed with the statement made by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad at a local government event insisting there will be no reinstatement of local elections under the Pakatan Harapan government.

Local elections formed an integral component of Malaysia’s democracy until they were unceremoniously suspended in the 1965 and formally abolished with the passing of the Local Government Act in 1976. By abolishing local elections, Malaysians are essentially being denied the right to vote for their local councillors, which contradicts the principle of democracy.

Therefore, Agora Society is of the view that local elections should be restored as soon as possible.

The prime minister reasoned that local elections may create a division between urban and rural local councils. Firstly, Agora Society wishes to emphasise that a political mandate coming from a free and fair local elections will only lead to a democratic result which is certainly not wrong in any manner. In fact, local councillors elected through local elections would have more political legitimacy and accountability towards voters, unlike the appointed councillors Malaysia currently has now.

Also, the suggestion of an impending racial conflict due to local elections is baseless and easily refuted. Since 2008, Malaysians have witnessed changes in state governments numerous times without descending to racial violence. The change of federal government from the most recent general election further exemplifies the Malaysian propensity to accept election results without resorting to physical violence.

The newly appointed international trade and industry deputy minister and Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming also correctly pointed out in an article dated 2015 that the ethnic composition of urban city councils have changed significantly. For example, the 2010 census data shows that the Malay population (45.9%) within Kuala Lumpur City Hall is more than the Chinese population (43.2%). The deputy minister even said that out of the three city halls, nine city councils, and 37 municipal councils in Malaysia, only six have populations where the Chinese outnumber the Malays. This gives further credence to the argument that local elections may not produce outcomes in which the Chinese will occupy most of the local council seats in urban areas.

Agora Society is also aware that at the same event, the prime minister also warned local authorities not to simply abuse their power, even uttering the famous phrase “power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely”. However, the local authorities in Malaysia will always be more susceptible to instances of corruption and abuse of power so long as local councillors are appointed by state government. The appointment system falls short of checking the decisions made by the local government, as the only entity the local councillors are only accountable to are the governing parties of the state government. Therefore, if the prime minister is sincere in preventing corruption and abuse of power, he should immediately restore Malaysians’ long abandoned “third vote”.

Furthermore, Agora Society is also dismayed by the fact that strong advocates of local elections prior to the last general election have seemingly turned a deaf ear or feel indifferent towards the prime minister’s latest announcement. For instance, the aforementioned article written by Ong was actually a rebuttal of Hadi Awang, who expressed similar racial concerns towards having local elections in Malaysia in 2015. Other than that, the current finance minister also had a history of trying to restore local elections through judiciary means when he was still the chief minister of Penang.

In fact, the former chief minister of Penang used to say that the state government is powerless to unilaterally push for local elections as long as the Local Government Act 1976 is not amended. Thus, with the change of federal government, PH has ran out of pretexts and it is is wholly unacceptable for advocates of local elections to now act lukewarm towards this issue.

Equally, the housing and local government minister also said that local elections will be implemented in three years. To sum up, there is no shortage of people in PH’s cabinet that are supportive of the idea of reinstating local elections.

Agora Society is concerned that the current cabinet will bear no difference to the previous BN cabinet if the prime minister’s views are deemed to be final and not properly challenged within the cabinet or by government backbenchers in Parliament.

Finally, the Agora Society is also opposed to deferring the restoration of local elections indefinitely because it was not stated as one of the promises from PH’s manifesto. The Agora Society ought to remind the PH government again such excuses are at best naive and at worst disingenuous. PH’s manifesto explicitly stated that the party is committed to strengthen local democracy and the local authorities’ accountability to the local community will be improved.

Only by reinstating local elections will there be any semblance of local democracy and a certain degree of accountability. Therefore, until proper local elections are in place, Malaysia will continue to have local governments that are not by the people or of the people.

* Agora Society Malaysia is a loose network of individuals who believe in the principles of democracy and good governance.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.