Reviving the local government election in Malaysia?

Abstract

Objective - Malaysia used to practice local government election before it was suspended due to several issues. Following the abolishment, the mode of election has been changed with the appointment of mayors and councillors in each local government level. However, in the past few years, especially after the 12th Malaysian General Election, this issue became debated among the Malaysian, not only the politicians and political parties, but also from non-governmental organisations and the people. Among the main reason why this election has not been able to be practiced in Malaysia is due to the absence of laws to allow this election to be held. Therefore, this paper attempts to discuss about the local government election issue within the context of legal perspective. Methodology/Technique - This study adopted the qualitative approach to provide reliable data and information needed by conducting elite interviews with two constitutional experts and three delegates from Pakatan Rakyat and non-government association representative. Findings - The Pakatan Rakyat (the coalition of opposition parties) especially Democratic Action Party has consistently endeavoured to revive local election in Malaysia. Unfortunately, the idea to restore the power of the third votes is disagreed by the Barisan Nasional (the ruling government). This indirectly means that if the Pakatan Rakyat insists to hold the election, they are facing obstruction from the federal government. However, the question whether the local government election can be reimplemented or not is debatable since both federal and state government claimed to have authority pertaining to the local government matter. This issue was brought to the Federal Court the court has ruled that the states have no jurisdiction to hold the local government election. Novelty - There were few past studies that have been researched about this topic. Furthermore, since the local government election was suspended and discontinued, this topic seems has not been discussed further, thus provide limited information for academic discourse. Type of Paper: Review Keywords : Election; local government; Federal Constitution; Pakatan Rakyat; Barisan Nasional