GEORGE TOWN: Bukit Bendera MP Liew Chin Tong has accused the government of lying by claiming that local elections were abolished based on the recommendations of the Athi Nahappan Report on local authorities.
He said the findings of the Royal Commission of Enquiry on local authorities in West Malaysia had in fact made recommendations to restore the third vote.
“One brazen falsehood that the government has wielded to support its stance not to conduct local elections was that it was recommended by the Athi Nahappan report (named after the royal commission's chairman then Senator Datuk Athi Nahappan).
“This is not true. The report (released in 1968) in fact recommended the continuation of the system of elected local government in Malaysia,” said Liew, who is political strategist to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had rejected outright a proposal by Penang and Selangor to reintroduce local government elections, which had been abolished in 1965.
Liew said the Umno-led administration's reluctance to revisit and amend the current political structure was unwittingly adding to the list of glaring and ever growing policy differences between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat.
He noted that the BN government had also dismissed calls to abolish the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) and reforms to the police force based on the recommendations of the Royal Commission Report of 2005.
He said the 2005 report had called for the formation of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconducts Commission, among other proposals.
Liew said that Najib, in dismissing the call for local elections by the Penang and Selangor state governments, was keeping Malaysia in a time warp, stuck in an archaic political arrangement.
“Such a move shows his refusal to move ahead with the times and give in to the people’s demand for democratisation,” said Liew.
He said the Athi Nahappan report concluded that “ … weighing both the processes in a dispassionate manner we cannot but take cognizance of the fact that the merits of the elective process with all its inherent and attendant weaknesses, outweigh those of nominative process.”
Members of the royal commissioners further remarked that "nomination is no real substitute for elective representation. If anything, nomination is an anachronism and a relic of colonialism. It is antithetic to democracy".
They added: "Democracy with efficiency is always more desirable and better than efficiency without democracy".
Liew said: “At the recommendation of the Athi Nahappan report and the persistent demand by the people for democratisation, the Penang and Selangor governments have decided to begin the process of local elections.
“It is time for the federal government to stop standing in the way of democracy."- By FMT staff
