Metro

Thursday October 8, 2009

DAP, PKR reps may soon join the board


THE latest members of the DBKL advisory board may be political appointees from Umno, MCA, Gerakan and MIC, but Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai said that Pakatan Rakyat would soon have its own candidates on the board.

According to Tan, based on the Rules and Regulations of the Advisory Board of the City of Kuala Lumpur 1989, the board must have 15 members, with the Federal Territories Ministry, the Finance Ministry, and the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department having one representative each, and the Selangor state government having two representatives.

“The terms for the current Selangor representative will soon expire, and we will be replacing them with our people,” Tan said. Tan added that there will be one rep from the DAP and another from PKR.

“The DAP has proposed Loh Chee Heng, who is my political secretary, as one of the members of the board,” Tan said.

According to Tan, Loh, who is also the Federal Territory DAP state secretary, is an excellent candidate and has worked well with the community and has close grassroots support.

The two current Selangor representatives are Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) chairman Datuk Setia Mohamad Adzib Mohd Isa and lawyer Mah Hang Yew. They were appointed by the previous Barisan Nasional state government and their terms will expire in a few months time.

Once the Pakatan Rakyat-controlled state government replaces the two incumbent Selangor representatives with its own nominated members, it will be the first time that the opposition alliance will be represented on the board.

In February, Selangor MB Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim told StarMetro that the state was reviewing the situation and it was getting feedback from the current Selangor appointees.

Khalid, who is also the Bandar Tun Razak MP, said that the best people to represent the residents of Kuala Lumpur were the 11 MPs elected by the people.

Khalid also acknowledged the fact that the advisory board had not been as effective as it should be as members only met six times a year and the mayor could override decisions made by the advisors.

During the first meeting with the Pakatan Rakyat MPs in January, mayor Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ismail rejected their request to be represented on the advisory board.

Their argument was that since the Opposition had won 10 of the 11 seats it was only logical that they be appointed as members of the board.

But, the DBKL has chosen to remain silent on this. The current line-up has been criticised for being pro-development and politically motivated.

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