Hadi: Local elections only benefit the Chinese

PETALING JAYA: PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has dismissed the idea of local council elections, claiming that it would only benefit the Chinese community.

He scoffed at the DAP, saying that the party was a strong proponent of local council elections for this very reason.

“The DAP, which is strongly supportive of local council elections, takes into account only the Chinese voters and would disregard the others races and parties who are the pulse and nerve of multi-racial and multi-religious cities in which all of its relationships and sensitivities must be well guarded,” said Hadi.

He also warned against copying everything that the British did in Malaya, saying what the British did was a form of social engineering for their own sake.

“The colonisers did not just build houses, businesses and other amenities in the towns developed by them; they also moulded a society that is problematic and bound to collide with one another.

“They also organised human development following their own norm.

"It is all for their sake, not ours, so we became a society that is in disarray,” Hadi said.

Earlier this month, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the government would not reinstate local council elections because this might cause racial conflict in the country.

On Dec 9, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, who is the Finance Minister, said local elections was a priority for the DAP, but holding it required the consensus of all the parties in Pakatan Harapan.

In Kuching, Sarawak Bersih called on the state government to restore local elections but not before consulting stakeholders and grassroots civil society.

In a statement endorsed by six other NGOs, it said Sarawak had experience conducting local elections dating back to 1948 based on the Local Government Elections Ordinance and Local Authorities Ordinance, both gazetted in 1948.

Pointing out that Sarawak’s first Chief Minister Tan Sri Stephen Kalong Ningkan was first elected a district councillor before moving on, it said local elections would provide a good starting point for young political aspirants.