A Roundtable Discussion on Local Government Elections was held on 12 May 2010 at Seminar Rooms 1&2, Wawasan Open University (WOU), Kuala Lumpur. It was jointly organized by SEDAR Institute and Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS). The forum began at 2.00pm and concluded at 6.00pm.

The welcoming speech was given by the Chairman of SEDAR Institute, Dato’ Mah Siew Keong. Dato’ Mah envisioned a good intellectual exchange of ideas based on the panelists’ vast expertise and experience in the subject. The opening speech was delivered by the President of IDEAS, YAM Tunku Zain al-Abidin ibni Tuanku Muhriz. In his opening remarks, Tunku Abidin stressed on the importance of shedding light on various angles of local government elections and getting the people educated on issues of democratic representation and participation in order for them to get a clearer picture of local government elections, hence facilitating a better understanding of the concept.

The first panel discussed the topic entitled “Local Government Elections: The past and the present” with its focus on the historical perspective and the theoretical and legal framework of local government elections in Malaysia. The discussion was moderated by the Director General of SEDAR Institute, Mr Khaw Veon Szu. The first session’s panelists were Tan Sri Dr Chin Fook Weng, former Majlis Perbandaran Pulau Pinang (MPPP) Councillor for 23 years and Mr Derek Fernandez, Councillor for Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ) and an expert in Local Government and Planning Law.

Tan Sri Dr Chin gave a historical account of how the Penang Municipal Council was being run during his 23-year tenure as a councillor in the island state. He even tied in the current scenario of local councils with respect to the olden days. Mr Fernandez gave a short video presentation of himself during an interview with Citizen Journalist about the various legalities and possible “breakthroughs” in the implementation of local government elections. Mr Fernandez stressed that “there is no taxation without representation” and it is an essential part of a growing modern democracy.

   
The second panel discussed the theme entitled “Whither Local Government Elections in Malaysia” with the focus on to have or not to have local government elections, including the short, medium and long term strategies to restore local government elections or any form of participatory democracy at the lowest level. This discourse was moderated by Mr Wan Saiful Wan Jan, the Chief Executive of IDEAS. The second session’s panelists were Mr Andrew Khoo, Advocate and Solicitor, Member of the Coalition for Good Governance (CGG) and Dr Goh Ban Lee, Senior Research Fellow, Socioeconomic and Environmental Research Institute (SERI), Penang.

Mr Khoo shared some of his useful insights and critical evaluation of the way to encourage good democratic practice in response to reforming the current voting system in Malaysia, to ensure a thriving healthy democracy and maintenance of basic rights to be able to vote for candidates who can perform and remove those who are not responsible in discharging their duties to the public. Dr Goh gave a power-point slide presentation on the various “technicalities” in implementing local government elections and he urged the participants to read some of the reports pertaining to local government elections in detail and in order to understand why there are hindrances and technical or political difficulties to implement local government elections.

The forum ended with a tea break and a networking session. Overall, from the feedbacks received, the participants felt that it was a good event to engage in a closed door session with various NGOs, government officials, members of civil societies and councillors or former councillors regarding this issue.

Click on the links for more resources on Local Government Elections:

1. Athi Nahappan Report (Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry to Investigate The Workings of Local Authorities in West Malaysia), 1970 

2. http://sedar.org.my/documents/event/report-of-the-local-government-elections-working-group/view.html

3. http://sedar.org.my/documents/event/an-advocacy-paper-to-bring-back-local-government-elections/view.html

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