LOCAL government elections could be held in selected areas for only some councils, and not nationwide, Penang local government exco Jagdeep Singh Deo suggested today.

He said this might address the reservation Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has concerning the impact of local elections on race relations.

“The PM’s concerns can be addressed. The local elections can be held for selected councils, not all councils nationwide,” he told a press conference at Komtar today.

Jagdeep was asked how Penang felt about the Housing and Local Government Ministry’s aim to restore local government elections in 2021 in a form unique to Malaysia.

Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said earlier this month that her ministry was studying the best model for the third vote, and gathering input from various parties before making a proposal to the cabinet. 

Local government elections used to be held between 1951 and 1965, allowing Malaysians to elect councillors. They were suspended during the Indonesian Confrontation with the then prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman promising to revive them after the confrontation.

But the local government elections were never brought back even after the confrontation ended in 1966. Since then, councillors have been appointed by the state governments.

Several years ago, the Penang government tried to revive the local elections, but the Federal Court in August 2014 ruled that the state government has no power to conduct local government elections with Section 15 of the Local Government Act 1976 prohibiting state legislatures from holding local government elections within their states.

Pakatan Harapan had previously suggested that local government elections should be reintroduced, even though it was not included as a pledge in the 14th general election manifesto.

In December last year, Dr Mahathir said local government elections are not part of the PH agenda, and such polls might cause racial conflicts.

“Local council elections may produce the wrong results. The urban may be different, the rural may be different… There will be conflicts emphasised by racial differences and the like. So we don’t want that to happen,” he was quoted as saying.

Jagdeep said Dr Mahathir might have felt that local government elections were impractical for the country.

“But it does not mean we cannot consider it for only some states. We (Penang) is ever ready (for it).

“It is up to the cabinet to deliberate,” he said, adding that Penang had given its views and briefed the ministry of its previous moves to bring back the local polls.

Earlier, to mark the first anniversary of PH’s victory in GE14, Jagdeep reported the achievements made by the state housing, local government and town and country planning committee.

In providing low-cost, low-medium cost and affordable homes, Penang is building 102,054 units, surpassing the pledged 75,631 units.

“The biggest challenge is still the high loan rejection rate. We will have to work closely with the federal government on the matter. We can’t keep delivering the units when people are denied of loans,” Jagdeep said.

He said the state will continue its successful Penang Maximum 80% Maintenance Fund programme, which has benefitted 370 private housing schemes and 50 public housing schemes.

Other achievements include being the first state to have digital libraries; installing LED street lights; installing 1,175 CCTVs, including those with facial recognition technology; introducing a smart parking system; and being the first in Asia to test the Terragraph internet service.

Other developments in the pipeline are the Gurney Wharf reclamation, the North and Eastern Shorefront projects and the Green Connector projects. – May 9, 2019.