He said this showed the Johor Pakatan Harapan (PH) aimed to silence the voices of residents in local council matters.
Phang, the chairman of the Petaling Jaya residents’ associations coalition, was referring to a statement by Johor exco member Tan Hong Pin that there was no place for NGO representatives in local councils.
“The Johor exco member claims the state is striving to ensure a more democratic process in local councils.
“But in the same breath, he insists that all representatives will be from component parties in PH and there are no seats for representatives from NGOs.
“This is a perfect oxymoron. A democratic process demands inclusiveness and participation from stakeholders,” said Phang in a statement.
Tan, who heads the science and technology state committee, was also reported as saying that “we are pushing for local government elections as this is one of the promises in the PH manifesto”.
“It goes against the principle of ‘no taxation without representation’,” Phang said.
“It is also hypocritical to say that one is pushing for local government elections and, on the other hand, covet all the councillor positions as a reward for PH’s political supporters.
“The considerations taken to take in political appointees adversely affect the quality of councillors chosen to serve the people.
“In fact, why serve the people when the ‘boss’ is the political masters who will decide on their reappointments.”
Phang said all this reflected a lack of political will and a weakness to stand up against the demands for rewards by political supporters.
“On the hand, we have politicians like Seputeh MP Teresa Kok calling for the abolition of the Federal Territories ministry even though she is highly touted to be appointed as the FT minister.”
Phang also said Tan was walking down a slippery slope towards the next general election.
“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
“PH politicians attaining power would be wise to put checks and balances in place so that when temptation comes their way, the possibility that they will be found out will discourage them from unethical practices.
“Our Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is now getting the institutional reform committee to bring back all the checks and balances that will prevent a government from going kleptocratic again.
“Not having NGO councillors is equivalent to removing checks and balances.
“We must avoid planting seeds of kleptocracy as we move into a new Malaysia.”
He said if the 14th general election had been declared a people’s victory by all political parties, it was high time the people were empowered with the third vote.
“Tan needs to explain to the people why he is going against the spirit of implementing local council elections.
“Words cannot be played around to justify bad decisions. The people are more discerning about baseless statements.
“Perhaps the federal ministers need to step in, with guidelines, to rein in state excos who do not have the political will to stand up against political patronage.”
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