DAP rep suggests local council elections should start from Bintulu
BINTULU: Local council elections should start from Bintulu, suggested Tanjong Batu assemblyman Chiew Chiu Sing.
He said this is to meet the needs of the people in the town and district.
“As elected representatives of the people of Bintulu, we should be ready to serve the people at all times, from all aspects and there is nothing improper with that,” he said.
He pointed out that at the moment, councillors throughout Sarawak are appointed by the government of the day and because they are appointed by their political masters, they are only accountable to them.
As it is now, he explained, it does not matter what the people think of their performance because at the end of the day, the people do not have the right to vote to say whether the councillors should go or stay for the next term.
“What is worse in Bintulu is that we do not even have a council,” said Chiew to The Borneo Post yesterday.
He added that Bintulu is run by the Bintulu Development Authority ( BDA) with a Board of Directors which employs a general manager and other staff and which also collects taxes from the people.
He believes local council elections should be restored so that the people can be represented and their voices can be heard.
Citing Bintulu as an example, Chiew, who is Sarawak Democratic Action Party ( DAP) deputy chairman, pointed out that the people need to participate in the running of the town and in decision making so that they can contribute to the development of the town and district without being forced to accept whatever had been decided by political appointees in the council. A case in point, he said, is the Tanjung Batu-Lebuhraya Abang Galau to the old Bintulu town road which the people would never want to be closed.
“For the past 40 years, DAP had been the opposition in Sarawak and we have played our role as opposition to serve the people and provide the necessary check and balance in our system of government,” he added.