What Puerile Thinking

Following a Deputy Minister’s statement that local councils are being run like “secret societies”, one person has come to the defence of the appointed ones claiming that “Malays would lose out” as they were underrepresented in urban areas.

This is the type of mentality that has created such a mess in local councils where tax payers are denied the chance of electing councilors who represent them for matters of local importance.

Local elections were stopped in 1965 under the guise of the Emergency and sadly this basic tenet of democracy has not been restored. We thus have the situation where people are appointed to local councils as a payback for political support, thereby enhancing the political patronage system that usually provides many avenues for corruption.

What about the argument about “Malays losing out”? If we have a choice I am sure the electorate will be able to decide if a candidate is a person of integrity and able to serve the rakyat. If a person is not worthy of the trust we should vote him or her out the next round.

That is the exercise of one’s basic right. Local elections can be a good testing ground for aspiring politicians as it provides a graduated scheme to learn and train future leaders. It could even be made a requirement that a new person must have served as an elected officer in a local council before being eligible for a state seat.

To me, an elected council that is poorly managed is still better than an appointed council that operates like a secret society. At least we have the power to change the former.

photo:http://www.global-conspiracies.com/black-mass.jpg