I WAS very disappointed when I read the statement of newly-appointed Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng that the DAP-led Penang will not hold local elections immediately.

While I don’t hold my breath that the price of fuel will be reduced or that we will see our cost of living getting lower, I want transparency in electing local authorities or governments.

The opposition can give an excuse that they can’t lower the price of fuel or give RM6,000 per year to the residents because this is outside their capacity.

But to not revive the local elections that is within the state’s power is a pathetic excuse.

Local elections were abolished in the mid-1960s because of the perception that local government politics, if allowed to continue, would be against the national interest.

As a result, councillors of the local authorities are appointed by the menteri besar or chief minister. Because these people are picked by their political masters, they cannot be regarded as truly independent.

And because it is not the rakyat who elected them, they are responsible only to their political masters, not to the rakyat.

It is my hope that we will be given the power not just to elect our wakil rakyat but also the people who will run the local authorities.

KAMAL ARIFFIN OTHMAN, Kajang

Source: NST – March 14, 2008