He suggested that an advisory board to the Federal Territory minister be formed instead, comprising MPs, which would provide them policy oversight over City Hall as the minister was empowered to issue policy directives which must be followed by the mayor.
All MPs in the Federal Territory could sit on the committee and thus exercise political control over general policy matters, Fernandez said.
His proposal was made in response to instructions from the Federal Territory minister, Khalid Samad, calling for the resignations of all politicians appointed to DBKL’s advisory board by the previous Barisan Nasional government. Khalid said last week that all MPs in Kuala Lumpur should be given a proper role in DBKL’s affairs as they were elected by the people.
However, Fernandez pointed out that the role of the advisory committee was different from that of an MP. An MP has a different mandate,” said Fernandez, a former councillor in Petaling Jaya.
Appointing MPs to the DBKL advisory board would blur the mayor’s position as chief executive of City Hall. The mayor chairs the board and has the power to overrule board decisions, which might give rise to cause political problems if MPs were members.
“The situation would be the akin to putting political nominees on company boards of directors,” Fernandez said.
He pointed out that the former opposition alliance of Pakatan Rakyat had a policy that state assembly members should not sit on local councils “because of the danger of ADUNs (state legislators) abusing their power and politicising local government without actually standing for elections to the local government itself”.
“The correct mechanism is to form an advisory commitee to the FT minister or an executive commitee of the Federal Territory, similar to the executive councils of state governments or the Economic Action Council.”
Another route for MPs to take part in DBKL affairs would be for MPs to be invited to attend DBKL meetings, not as members, but as observers, as was practised in the Petaling Jaya city council.