Farhan Haziq Mohamed, a former Petaling Jaya city councillor, said based on personal experience, residents often did not even know who their mayor or council president is.

He blamed this on the current system which sees mayors appointed by the state or federal governments, and sometimes replaced without residents’ knowledge.

“More importantly, the role of a mayor or council president is not just as a head of department but as the leader of a local government administration with significant budgets,” he said in a statement.

Farhan pointed out that Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) had a budget of about RM2.8 billion last year, exceeding the 2026 budgets of states such as Perlis, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan.

“With such responsibilities borne by the mayor or council president, citizens should have the right to elect their leaders, and to ensure accountability.”

He proposed that mayoral elections be piloted in major cities first, while smaller towns continue under the current system.

Separately, Gopeng MP Tan Kar Hing said mayoral elections in cities such as New York and London showed that voters did not vote solely based on skin colour or religious belief, but the quality of leadership shown by candidates.

“In the case of Kuala Lumpur, there exists a narrative that plays on racial and religious sentiments, with claims of fear that Malaysia’s capital would be dominated by DAP should mayoral elections be held,” he said.

The PKR man said fears that mayoral elections would shift power along racial or religious lines were misplaced, adding that voters in such polls tended to evaluate candidates based on urban planning policies and governance performance rather than identity.

“Voters do not necessarily make decisions based on race and religion, but instead evaluate the urban planning policies put forward and the effectiveness of their implementation.”