Umno: Local council polls will divide nation

SEREMBAN: Politics must be kept out of local councils and one way to do this is by saying no to council elections, says Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

The former Negri Sembilan mentri besar said if local council elections were held, then the interest of the rakyat might be compromised.

He said having local council elections might seem democratic, but it was not the only answer to problems faced by local councils now.

He urged Malaysians not to support the move.

“All parties should seriously study the impact of holding local council elections.

“We should not allow Pakatan Harapan to unilaterally decide how our society should be managed purely in the name of democracy,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Mohamad said that having local council elections would drastically alter the national political landscape and divide multiracial Malaysia.

Having such elections would not guarantee local councils would function more effectively, he said.

“It will only polarise Malaysians. Such a move will also lead to a situation where voters in urban areas will tend to support a candidate whose race forms the majority in the area and this is not good for a multiracial Malaysia,” he said.

Mohamad said the present model (where the councillors are appointed by the ruling party) was workable although it need some tweaking.

On Monday, Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad said his ministry was in the midst of preparing a Cabinet paper on the revival of local government elections.

He said this should be presented by the end of the year.

Raja Kamarul said the government must amend laws before the local government elections could be held.

To this, Mohamad claimed that even the Pakatan government had no clear stand on the matter.

“Holding local council elections was part of their general election manifesto.

“But it has been a year and they are still at a loss as to how this should be done,” he said.

Mohamad expressed concern over the possibility that the country may be divided into areas based on race if Pakatan went ahead with the plan.