Unacceptable not to resume local govt elections — rep
KOTA KINABALU: DAP Sabah publicity secretary Phoong Jin Zhe opined that it is unacceptable of the Prime Minister not to resume local government elections on the grounds that it might lead to racial disharmony, among other reasons.
“If our new government continues to make race and ethnicity or other identity politics a major consideration in implementing policies for the country, then all our reformation efforts thus far would have added up to nil and we would fail to meet the aspiration of the people for the new government.
“In the end, the entire ruling coalition will be shackled in the execution of their policies until our downfall in the next election,” said Phoong in a statement yesterday.
The Luyang assemblyman said it was about time for the new government to stop making policy considerations with a racial lens, but to jump out of this sort of identity politics in order to accomplish the national reform mission undertaken long time ago.
“Naturally, this must include the reform and revival of local government elections as failure to do so would mean that the local government does not actually carry the mandate and aspiration of the people to carry out effective changes in their respective areas,” he continued.
Phoong stressed that we must stop deploying race and ethnicity to sabotage the reform process that is slowly gaining traction in this New Malaysia.
“If the government must always take race and ethnicity as the primary consideration in all of its decision, I believe today we will not have a Chinese as the Finance Minister, an East Malaysia native as the Chief Justice of the Federal Court, much less appointing other minorities in the country to hold important portfolios in the government. Not only is this extremely unjust, it directly encroaches the confidence of local talents returning to our homeland,” he went on.
“If we continue to allow racial politics to grow rampant in this country, then I am afraid that the reforms we wish to implement, such as the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963, the reform of our electoral system, and the administrative as well as fiscal decentralization of the federal to the state government, would all be akin to chasing the wind.
“I believe that if Pakatan Harapan desires reform and yet still worries about identity politics, then we will not achieve anything in the short run nor will we achieve either ends in the long haul,” he warned.
Phoong said that local government election is an indispensable priority in all democratic institutions as the life of regular citizens are directly linked to their policies and executive abilities.
“Whether the drainage systems are maintained regularly, garbage are collected on time, whether the local parks are furnished from time to time, whether the community enjoys a liveable environment, the efficiency with which licenses are being renewed and issued, and whether the public transportation are provided to the community effectively, these affect every facet of life of a regular citizen.
“Many times, because the local government are not elected and therefore unable to reflect the mandate of the people to carry out reforms, the regular citizens will not be able to foresee the possibility of their lives being improved or their living environment being upgraded before any democratic process. This will indeed be a fatal blow to the Pakatan Harapan government.
“Moreover, if we continue to govern with race-based politics, ethnic issues would always fill up our media coverages.
“As the ruling government, the need to struggle and handle ethnic issues daily will certainly be a huge burden to the government and for the country as a whole,” he said.
“As of today, the new government has yet to reach its first tenure as a ruling party. In all actuality, there are still ample opportunities to readjust its footsteps and decide to walk out the racial political arena and promote institutional reforms that reflect democracy and good governance.
“I agree that our first priority should always be to improve and boost the economy, but at the same time, we must continue to engage in dialogue with people from all walks of life and ethnic groups to promote holistic institutional reforms.
“If we choose to be overwhelmed by ethnic issues, we will continue to suffer under them, even if our economy booms, this country will still be torn in all direction and ultimately be in pieces,” said Phoong.
He hoped that the new ruling coalition would be resolute in pushing and promoting all necessary institutional reforms boldly, be it the reform of local government or the electoral processes, and so bequeathing a brand new political legacy for the new Malaysia.