|
Councillors cannot behave like before: Dompok
March 29, 2008 (Source: Daily Express)
PENAMPANG: Minister in the Prime
Minister's Department Tan Sri Bernard Dompok
said councillors can no longer act like rubber
stamps in the wake of people's higher
expectations.
He said this was reflected in the recent
election results where former Menteri Besars and
Chief Ministers are now sitting in the
opposition benches in some State assemblies.
"I have been informed that in the past
councillors complained about a lot of things
coming from top down. It means the councillors
had no choice but to just agree and implement
whatever is directed by the top," he said.
Dompok, who is Penampang MP, assured the
district councillors he will always be there for
them if they needed his assistance.
"I assured them that I am with them. Councillors
should not be a rubber stamp É the councillors
must consider the views of everybody," he said,
Friday.
He said unlike before, councillors now have
heavy responsibilities because of the very high
expectations of the people on the services and
performances of the local authority.
"This is especially now when the people have
become more aware of their rights, besides the
fact that other states which are governed by the
oppositions are even mulling election for
councillors (instead of them being appointed as
had always been under the BN system)," he said.
In Selangor, Perak, Penang and Kedah which the
DAP-PKR-PAS opposition alliance wrested from the
Barisan Nasional in the recent elections, the
Executive Council line-up now comprises
individuals from these opposition parties who
were actively taking up the peoples' many
grievances.
Dompok also said the Penampang BN Committee
wants the jurisdiction boundary for the
Penampang and Putatan districts to be consonant
with the existing parliamentary constituency
boundary.
Dompok, who is Penampang BN Chairman, said the
committee unanimously agreed on this in view of
the impending commission of the Putatan District
Office.
Putatan was formerly a sub-district under
Penampang District Office jurisdiction before
its status was elevated to a full district last
year.
There was talk and even "confusion" over how the
boundary lines for both Penampang and Putatan
will be made when the proposal for elevation of
the Putatan sub-district status was made, it was
learnt.
Following the Penampang and Putatan
parliamentary constituency boundaries, those
people or villagers voting in Penampang must be
in the Penampang District, said Dompok, who
conveyed the committee's decision to the
Penampang District Council during its meeting
here Friday.
|
