Jeffrey Phang, who heads MyPJ, a group bringing together residents’ associations and MBPJ councillors, said PH had merely stated it would “strengthen local democracy”, adding that its manifesto last year was “watered down” from its previous general election manifestos.

Jeffrey said the then opposition coalition had, in 2008 and 2013, strongly advocated for restoring local council elections.

But he said since 2011, there had been a complete takeover of city councils by politicians.

“The lack of independent representation in the councils has resulted in abuse of power and inefficient management in the local councils,” he told a forum on local council elections organised by MyPJ today.

“Under the leadership of the new PH government, there should no longer be any excuse or delay in giving the rakyat the third vote simply because the PH coalition is now the government of the day,” he said.

Critics against local council elections have cited concerns over racial conflicts, saying the outcome of such polls would be problematic in large cities such as Kuala Lumpur.

Last month, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said there were no plans to bring back the elections due to differences between urban and rural demographics.

At the forum today, several activists urged Putrajaya to be serious in bringing back the so-called third vote.

Agatha Foo from Penang Forum noted the Penang state government’s clear stand on the matter.

“Now, it is up to the federal government and (Housing and Local Government Minister) Zuraida Kamaruddin to give us not just the results of the study in the next three years but the reinstatement of the local council elections in the next three years,” she said.

Zuraida previously said that the government would carry out a detailed study into the matter, and that local council elections could be held in three years.

On critics’ argument that local council elections would expose racial imbalance, political analyst Wong Chin Huat pointed out that there are only six out of 154 local authorities which are not Malay-dominated.

He also said the government should start local council elections at the village committee level.

He said most villages were mono-ethnic, with either Malays or Chinese dominating, and as such, race would not be a concern.

“They would know that the representatives in the committee would be their own people,” he told the forum today.