MPKj to carry on as usual despite being short of six councillors

The Star, Tuesday May 14, 201

By THO XIN YI
thoxinyi@thestar.com.my

THE Kajang Municipal Council (MPKj) will continue working as usual despite being short of six councillors.

In addition to S. T. Chandra Mohan leaving the council early this year when he was appointed as a senator, five other councillors left to contest in the GE13.

The five councillors are Lee Kee Hiong and Eddie Ng from DAP, Razaly Hassan and Mohd Shafie Ngah from PAS and S. Arutchelvan from Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM).

Apart from Arutchelvan, the other four won the seats they contested.

Lee wrested the Kuala Kubu Baru seat by defeating Jesse Ooi of Barisan Nasional and three other independent candidates.

Ng emerged as the winner in the three-cornered fight in Balakong.

Razaly and Mohd Shafie won the Dusun Tua and Bangi seats respectively.

When contacted, Ng said he believed the six vacancies in MPKj would not affect the operations of the council.

He said the zones, which were formerly taken care by the six councillors, would be adopted by other councillors.

“Fellow councillor Lee Shim Moi will help to keep an eye on Zone 13, which falls under Balakong.

“Lai Wai Chong will take over Zone 6 (Mahkota Cheras),” he said.

The Balakong assemblyman said there could be some reshuffling to fill the void in various committees in the council, adding that the 2012/13 term for the councillors would only expire in December.

“We will leave it to the Mentri Besar to decide if the vacancies should be filled with new councillors,” he said.

Razaly, meanwhile, said fellow councillor Mazwan Johar would take over his duties for Zone 11.

He is confident the vacancies would not be a problem for MPKj.

On the other hand, Arutchelvan said he has yet to tender his resignation as MPKj councillor but planned to do so as soon as the Selangor Mentri Besar is sworn in.

“PSM has decided that its two councillors in MPKj and Shah Alam City Council will resign from the positions. We want to submit our resignation letters to the Mentri Besar because he appointed us,” he said.

Arutchelvan added that the resignation was also in line with PSM’s election manifesto, which touched on reviving local government election.

“Councillors should be elected and not appointed,” he said.