‘Yes’ to non-politicians as councillors

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KUCHING: Positive response was received from both sides of the political divide to non-politicians’ appointment as councillors of local authorities, as mooted by Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.

Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Tan Sri James Masing, Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) president Tan Sri William Mawan, and state Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) vice-chairman See Chee How agreed to the idea.

Masing who is Land Development Minister said the criteria should be the person’s ability to perform and possess the same philosophy as that of Barisan Nasional (BN).

Mawan said the move would make the state political exercise more inclusive as the councillors would not only be confined to BN members.

He said appointing non-BN members to become councillors would provide them an avenue to be part of community engagement programmes.

“If the appointment of councillors is confined to BN, it will make us a little bit detached, but if the appointment include non-politicians, our political exercise will be more inclusive as non-BN members will feel they are part of our transformation programme.”

“Along with that, it must be consistent with our social transformation programme,” Mawan said.

The Social Development Minister said it was important for councillors of all local councils to work together, irrespective from which council they represent.

Mawan said the community and social transformation programmes require the participation of all the people, and appointing people outside BN as councillors was wise.

Meanwhile, See said Taib had found many non-performing councillors.

“When the position of councillor becomes a reward for party members under the BN system of patronage, we have problems of non-performing councillors as Taib has found out,” See said.

The Batu Lintang assemblyman maintained that local council election was still the best way to pick capable and accountable councillors.

This, he explained, was to provide an avenue for the people to kick out non-performing councillors.

See said the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government appoint non-party members to become councillors to better serve the people, and according to him, Taib was taking a cue from PR states where they wanted to have council election, but were barred by the law.

Taib said in Miri yesterday that local authorities in the state would undergo a major change to reduce the number of politicians holding posts as councillors.

He wanted people who were more community-oriented to take up the posts instead of politicians, and he did not want to see much politicking among the local authorities.