The Malaysian Insight

PENANG is ready to hold local government elections as long as the federal government allows it, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said.

He said the Penang government has taken steps over the last few years to restore local council elections but to no avail.

“It is now for the federal government to take the necessary actions,” said Chow, who was formerly the state exco in charge of local government.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, however, this morning said the government has shelved the idea for now as it could cause racial tensions if the election results emphasised racial differences.

The Pakatan Harapan election manifesto for GE14 did not promise to restore the third vote, and only mentions “strengthening local democracy” to boost role and powers of local authorities.

However, PH’s precursor, Pakatan Rakyat, made the promise in its 2008 election manifesto.

In 2010, the DAP-led Penang government under Lim Guan Eng who is now Finance Minister, made its first step to deliver the promise. It wrote to the Election Commission, asking it to run local government elections for the Penang Island and Seberang Prai municipal councils.

In May 2012, the state legislative assembly passed an enactment to hold local elections. The enactment provided for the EC to conduct local government elections in the state. However, the state received no commitment from the EC.

In March 2013, the Penang government and former Aliran president P. Ramakrishnan filed a petition in court that the state legislature had the right to allow Penang voters to elect their local councillors in accordance with the Local Government Elections (Penang Island and Province Wellesley) Enactment 2012.

They sought to declare Section 15 of the Local Government Act invalid, claiming that Parliament acted beyond its powers under the federal constitution in enacting the provision. Section 15 bars states from holding local government elections.

But in August 2014, the Federal Court declared that Penang has no jurisdiction to conduct local polls.

Court of Appeal president Raus Sharif said the Penang government had exceeded its jurisdiction by unilaterally exempting the application of Section 15 to the state.

He also said the state had acted beyond its power to pass the 2012 enactment, which contravened Sections 10 and 15 of the Local Government Act, which ensured uniformity of law and policy in relation to local governments, including local government elections. – December 10, 2018.