She said her ministry was in the midst of studying models used in various countries and added that the idea was to come up with one that would “best fit the Malaysian situation”.
It could possibly be a hybrid of the models being studied, she said in an interview that was held to mark Pakatan Harapan’s first year in power.
She said she was sticking to a promise she made earlier that local elections would be restored in 2021 and would table a bill to amend the Local Government Act “some time at the end of next year or early 2021”.
Several other laws would also have to be amended, she said without elaborating.
In the search for an appropriate model for Malaysia, she said, her ministry was consulting with various NGOs and state bodies.
She said the study would address a concern once expressed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad over the possibility of racial tension resulting from the return of local polls.
The last local council election was held in 1963. Elections scheduled for the following year were suspended. The reason given by the federal government was Indonesia’s confrontation with Malaysia.
The suspension, which was supposed to be temporary, became permanent in 1976 when Parliament passed the Local Government Act, which abolished the polls and provided for appointed councillors.
Zuraida gave credit to civil servants for her ministry’s ability to push through several new policies within a year of the PH administration.
“Thank God, with their support, we have managed to launch three key policies,” she said, referring to the National Development Policy 2.0, the National Housing Policy and the National Community Policy.
These were now in various stages of implementation, she added.
She spoke of several other achievements, such as the rebranding of licensed moneylenders as worthy members of the credit community and the enforcement of new guidelines for the recycling and re-export of clean plastics.
Referring to the development of a memorial park at the site of the ill-fated Highland Towers, she said she was waiting for approvals for the demolition of the two remaining blocks and hoping to get them by the end of June.
One of the reasons for developing the park, she said, was to ensure that the area would be rid of threats of vandalism, theft and other crimes.
“The community in the area has been living in fear for the past 25 years,” she said.
The Highland Towers, a residential complex, consisted of three 13-storey blocks. On Dec 11, 1993, Block 1 collapsed following a major landslide.
Forty-eight people died in the tragedy. Residents in the remaining two blocks were subsequently evacuated due to safety concerns.
The two blocks remain abandoned.