Opinion: Who needs a politician as KL Datuk Bandar?

here is another eveidence that the country is not managed by a truely professional and highly talented politicians.


Whatelse Malaysians can say ?


Opinion: Who needs a politician as KL Datuk Bandar?
By ABDUL RAZAK AHMAD26 August, 2006
Politicians want the next Kuala Lumpur mayor to be appointed from their ranks. Whether a politician mayor can make life better for residents is one thing, but there are also implications for local authorities nationwide, writes ABDUL RAZAK AHMAD. ONE complaint circulating in Kuala Lumpur is that the city is being managed so badly that it’s going to take no less than a politician to make things better. And this is no joke.A proposal being drafted by the Federal Territories Barisan Nasional is asking that the next Datuk Bandar to replace Datuk Ruslin Hasan, whose term ends in December, be appointed from among the politicians.Their grouse is that City Hall bureaucrats often elbow them aside when it comes to running KL. Unlike other local authorities, which are firmly under the control of state governments, much of the day-to-day power to run Kuala Lumpur lies with a bureaucrat Datuk Bandar.Little say is given to local politicians who sit on an appointed advisory board."From our perspective, KL residents are becoming more critical and demanding. "They expect the sun and moon from us, but how can we deliver when our reach is very short?" asks FT Umno Youth chief Datuk Mohamad Norza Zakaria.According to Norza, longstanding problems that City Hall has failed to get on top of include unlicensed petty traders, "insensitive" relocation of residents, flood control, problems with low-cost housing and unhappiness among the poorer segments who feel they’ve been sidelined from development.A politician mayor, say the plan’s advocates, would understand residents’ woes better, and can be held accountable by the electorate.Much is at stake. Kuala Lumpur City Hall is the richest local authority in the country, with an annual revenue approaching RM2 billion. The amount spent just to keep the city clean in 1996 — RM100.1 million — was more than the whole State budget for Negri Sembilan that year. KL City Hall, in short, is a gold mine. That’s one reason why the proposal is raising eyebrows."The question that needs to be asked of the political parties is why they really want to put in a politician as mayor," says lawyer Derek Fernandez, who represents 40 residents’ associations in Petaling Jaya, Subang Jaya and KL.Those against the proposal say any change must be able to tackle the root problem with City Hall and other local authorities: Insufficient accountability and transparency."There’s a lot of money to be made in terms of local government contracts, with a whole range of brokers created as a result, each of them lobbying," says Fernandez. "On the other hand you have unelected people running local authorities and making decisions, many times without accountability and transparency."It’s a recipe for disaster," he adds, citing controversies such as the reported award of outdoor advertising concessions by the Petaling Jaya City Council.Because the proposal is coming from Barisan Nasional politicians, there are implications for the other 143 local authorities in Malaysia."If Kuala Lumpur is allowed to have a politician as a mayor, don’t you think others will be asking for it to be done in the other cities and towns?" asks Gerakan Youth Federal Territory chief Ma Woei Chyi.Ma, a member of the KL City Hall advisory board, says this is one proposal that needs to be crafted very carefully. He admits there have been exceptions — most notably was Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan, who was Penang Gerakan secretary when he served as Penang Municipal Council president in 1996. A popular suggestion floating about is to elect the Datuk Bandar. Council elections were the norm, but they were suspended in 1965 and later abolished under the Local Government Act 1976. The reasons cited were cost and political sensitivities.Umno Youth’s Norza believes the time for an elected Datuk Bandar is not yet right. He feels that for groups such as the Bumiputera community, there are policies that need to be implemented to level the socio-economic playing field in the city. Some disagree."Yes, a politician is answerable at election time, but ratepayers won’t know who is going to be the mayor until after the general election," says Edward Lee, pro-tem chairman of the All Petaling Jaya Pro Action committee made up of 47 residents’ associations and Rukun Tetangga as well as 22 non-governmental organisations. Another KL City Hall advisory member, Datuk Ahmad Fauzi Zahari, feels the decision on who runs Kuala Lumpur should be left to the Federal Government."Kuala Lumpur is a Federal city, so the planning and development needs to be done by the Federal Government," says Fauzi, the Umno Setiawangsa division treasurer.The irony here is that the system of administration for Kuala Lumpur was originally designed to be independent of local partisan interests."Unlike other local authorities run by a council, Kuala Lumpur City Hall was set up with only an advisory board for the mayor. That’s because the advisers were not meant to be affiliated to any political party," says Prof Phang Siew Nooi, an expert on local authority management at Universiti Malaya.The Federal Act does not bar politicians from the advisory board. But Phang says that the city’s early advisers were "professionals with very strong backgrounds and education who contributed ideas to the mayor". And council elections aren’t exactly alien to politicians. "They were in fact our first taste of democracy in the build-up to Merdeka," Phang says, referring to the 1952 Kuala Lumpur elections that marked the first electoral co-operation between Umno and MCA.What’s certain is that the abolition of council elections put Malaysia in a special situation. Asked whether there are any other countries where councils are not elected, Phang says: "Frankly, no examples come to my mind."It will be up to the Government to decide whether the time will come when council elections can be re-instated.One alternative for the time being could be gradual changes — allowing ratepayers a bigger say in the council decision-making processes, and improving local council laws to promote accountability.Phang says that, judging by the current debate, it appears the politicians are trying to associate the Datuk Bandar’s post with that of a Menteri Besar or Chief Minister, which is why they feel the mayor has to come from their ranks."But the public is looking at this differently. For them, the keyword in all this is greater accountability, be the Datuk Bandar a politician or professional, appointed or elected."
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