GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government will continue to champion the implementation of local government elections in efforts to further improve democracy in the administration.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said they understood Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s concern over the implementation of the elections, especially in the present scenario.
“We have done whatever possible according to the law but to amend the Local Government Act, it is under the Federal Government.
“We leave it to the Housing and Local Government Ministry to pursue the matter as it is out of our jurisdiction,” he told a press conference today.
Dr Mahathir recently shot down the possibility of instituting local council elections, saying that it would create racial conflicts and widen the urban and rural gap.
Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, however, said they would continue studies into its implementation.
For the record, since it took over the Penang government back in 2008, the state administration has been trying to bring back the local government elections.
Penang is the first state to hold the municipal elections back in 1951.
Meanwhile, Chow said the special investigation committee into the Bukit Kukus landslide would table its first report on the matter today.
“Today, we will be given the first report into the tragedy. We will share the findings with the media in the near future,” he said.
The Bukit Kukus landslide on Oct 19 claimed the lives of 10 foreign workers and left four injured.