Can Elected Rep Serve Better?

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan sees a need for elected representatives to be appointed members of local authorities, believing that state assemblymen could better serve the public’s interest.

He said that the state assemblymen needed to know what was happening in their areas, including the management of local authorities.

Mohamad, however, said that a thorough study was needed before a decision to disallow state assemblymen from being members of local authorities was made.

He was commenting on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s statement on Thursday that the Government would study whether elected representatives should be made members of local authorities.

Do State Assemblymen serve us better as Councillors?

Ya, they did; they help to corrupt the system and keep UMNO officials and members happy. They called it NEP.

And, they are often absent for council meetings, but with damn good lame excuses.

Two Penang municipal councillors, among those with poor record of attendance at its full council meetings over the past 10 months, have defended their absence.

The duo are Datuk Ahmad Ismail, who attended only three out of 11 meetings, and Shah Headan Ayoob Shah, who attended only two.

Their reason for absence is due to higher priority they gave to attending meetings at committee level, where they claimed decisions are made, rather than full council meetings.

Ahmad, the Bukit Bendera Umno division chief, said whenever he could not attend he would send a letter of apology to the council president.

He said, however, he would not miss committee-level meetings where important decisions were made.

“The full council meetings are held to endorse decisions taken at the meetings and they end within 15 minutes. So I don’t attend them when I have other important things to do,” he admitted.

Shah Headan, who is Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) northern region head, said he could not attend the (full council) meetings as the dates clashed with CVLB’s board meetings in Kuala Lumpur.

“The two meetings are always scheduled on Fridays. The date of the council meeting cannot be changed just because of me since it must take into consideration the convenience of the other 23 councillors,” he said yesterday.

Shah Headan, the Balik Pulau Umno Youth chief, said he had informed council president Datuk Abu Bakar Hassan verbally on the clashing dates but did not submit any apology letters for his absence.

State Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan, however, said anybody who was appointed as municipal councillor should attend full council meetings.

“Otherwise, it can be construed as not carrying out and fulfilling their responsibility as a councillor.''

Meanwhile, the council has no plan to take any action against Ahmad for his frequent absence.

Abu Bakar said Ahmad, who is Umno’s whip in the council, had informed him whenever he could not attend the meetings.

Where'd the problem lies?

It's political... council positions are given to political cronies to aligned their support and to win votes. It's got nothing to do with serving the public. It's about wealth creation and employment. It's about corruption, kleptorism and nepotism.