Sabah to hold local elections
State government to prepare for polls after detailed study
KOTA KINABALU: The new Parti Warisan Sabah state government plans to hold local council elections in the state within this term.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Jaujan Sambakong, who is also the Housing and Local Government Minister, said there will be a detailed study on the election, which falls under his ministry’s purview.
The move to push for local council elections in the state is in sync with the Pakatan Harapan-led federal government’s plan to install local council elections nationwide in the near future.
“The time will come for the people to elect the local government in charge of administering their city. The people want to choose.
“For now we will be preparing towards this end and hope to implement local council elections within this term or the next five years,” Jaujan told The Star in a recent interview.
At the federal level, Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin had said that local council elections could be held within three years while a study will be carried out within the next six months.
Jaujan said his ministry would also embrace the concept of decentralisation by gradually providing more powers to local governments and upgrading district councils.
“Our immediate plan is to upgrade district councils by redistributing powers and functions away from
Our immediate plan is to upgrade district councils by redistributing powers and functions away from the central authority. Datuk Jaujan Sambakong
the central authority.
“Currently, all the planning and decision making is done at the central level but we want to give district councils more power to plan and decide what is needed in their specific geographical area such as electricity and water supply,” said Jaujan.
His ministry is currently in the process of obtaining Cabinet approval for the decentralisation plan, said Jaujan, adding that he hoped this will not take much time.
Jaujan said the current power base is too concentric, where the entire state is governed through a centralised body in the state capital.
As a result, administrative bodies, job opportunities and other major activities are too concentrated in that particular area, resulting in unequal growth within the state, particularly in the rural areas, said Jaujan.
“If district councils are given more powers and functions, in two or three years, we will be able to see many changes,” he said.
Currently, the heads of district councils are given the title of ‘Chairman’ but Jaujan wants to see this upgraded to ‘Yang di-Pertua Majlis Daerah’ and also for district councillors to be given specific purviews, akin to a government Cabinet.
There are 24 local government authorities all over Sabah.
Jaujan said his ministry’s policies would focus extra attention on developing rural areas by planning more affordable and low-cost housing projects for those in the lower income bracket.
This would be coupled with projects that could bring in more local jobs so that those in rural areas need not migrate to the cities to earn a living, said Jaujan.
The Government will also work towards reducing the number of squatter housing all over the state, said Jaujan.
“It is pointless if we were to only build houses; we should also develop industries in rural areas,” he said.