Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz's objection to local elections on another point: intergovernmental conflict. According to Nazri, the people would suffer if the elected local government does not agree with the state government. He argued that the "winner-takes-all" nature of the current appointment system makes management and fund allocation easy. 

By Wong Chin Huat, The Nut Graph

AT least on the surface, the Barisan Nasional (BN) agrees with the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) on two things: ethno-religious inclusion and governmental reforms. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's 1Malaysia and Government Transformation Programme are basically the BN's answer to the PR's ketuanan rakyat and "competency, accountability and transparency".

But the two coalitions now differ on one thing: local government elections. While Penang and Selangor are writing to the Election Commission (EC) for authorisation to carry out local elections, the BN has shot down the idea. The question is, why is the BN so against the idea of reviving local government elections?

Federal and state elections, too?

Najib dismissed local elections because they may cause too much politicking. He said those vying for a spot in local councils will be too busy campaigning for their posts rather than performing their roles effectively.

By this logic, we should not have parliamentary and state elections, either; appointed federal and state lawmakers would perform their roles more effectively if they didn't have to campaign for their posts. And by extension, senators would be the best-performing political officers in the country.

Sin Chew Daily also reported Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz's objection to local elections on another point: intergovernmental conflict. According to Nazri, the people would suffer if the elected local government does not agree with the state government. He argued that the "winner-takes-all" nature of the current appointment system makes management and fund allocation easy.

By extending Nazri's logic, it might be better not to have state elections, just federal elections. After all, if whichever party won federal power controlled all states, then the federal government could easily manage and allocate funds.

As we are commemorating the second anniversary of the sea-changing 2008 elections, will everyone accept that Selangor, Penang, Kelantan and Kedah should just be under BN government to ease administration and development?

The implication of the divide between the two coalitions over local elections is clear: the BN is against democratisation while the PR is for it. Theoretically, the BN proposes a more inclusive, more efficient but not more democratic Malaysia, while the PR offers a more inclusive, more efficient and more democratic Malaysia.

If you believe that 8 March 2008 was about citizens taking ownership of their public life and nationhood, then the BN is the antithesis of this very idea.

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