Village Community Management Council members appointment through voting
PENAMPANG: Rural Development Minister Dr Ewon Benedick said the mechanism of selecting members for the Village Community Management Council (MPKK) would soon be conducted through a proper voting process, thus abolishing the current appointment mechanism.
MPKK, which will soon replace the Village Development and Security Committes (JKKK) system, will be adopting the new mechanism once the two-year tenure of the soon-to-be appointed MPPK members ends.
This would mean that, under the proposed MPKK system, the appointment method would only last for two years; after which, a proper voting process will then be conducted.
In other words, the new voting process should be conducted some time between 2020 or 2021, depending on when the first batch of MPKK members would be appointed.
Ewon, who was speaking at the Seminar Pelestarian Adat Orang Asal 2018 launching in Penampang on Thursday, disclosed the details on the proposed mechanism after he was asked whether the appointment of the re-branded MPKK members would be based on ‘merit’ or ‘political gains’.
He assured the public that only those who can fulfill the necessary requirements such as age, educational background and residence will be selected.
He said what was important for the state was to ensure that the administration of the MPPKs in each village could run smoothly while pointing out that MPKKs served as the government’s machinery.
“Due to the recent government transition and the need to ensure that the administration of these villages can be initiated promptly, we have decided to adopt the appointment method for the first two years,” he added.
When asked to disclose the actual launching date of the MPKK system, Ewon said he aimed to do so by at least this November.
“These villages are in need of immediate administration so we want to see the recommendations reach the Rural Development Ministry as soon as possible.
“My goal, personally as a minister is to see appointments being done as early as November, or even better, October. However, this will depend on the assemblymen (who are the coordinators) as well as the district office for each district to put forward their recommendations at their respective districts; these recommendations will then be brought to my ministry,” he said.
He added that the Ministry of Law and Native Affairs would deal with the appointment of new village chiefs.
Ewon has also assured the people that there will be checks and balances in the new MPKK system and the new system would bring significant impacts to the villages from around the state.
He said the number of members would now be increased from six (under the JKKK system) to 13 in the new MPKK system.
In addition, 30 per cent of the member composition of the MPPKs in each village will be comprised of women.
Each MPKK will also feature a youth committee.