Repercussions among Malays with more Chinese councilors in MPJBT

Kwong Wah Yit Poh, February 19, 2016

Johor Bahru, Feb 18 – The breaking of tradition by the Central Johor Baru Municipal Council (MPJBT) in appointing more Chinese councilors over Malays have caused repercussions among the Malays, whether MPJBT would become the first precedent in the country to break away from the tradition of allocation of councilors according to race proportion, is something the nation is concerned about.

The original plan of swearing in ceremony of the MPJBT councilors on this Tuesday had been postponed to another date at the last minute, according to the official explanation, it was because the list submitted by Pulai Umno division was not complete, but according to the online information it was because there were 11 Chinese councilors (nine from MCA and two from Gerakan), only nine councilors were Malay in the latest lineup of MPJBT councilors, whereas in the past Malay councilors in all municipal councils had outnumbered other races, hence causing repercussions among Umno grassroots.

According to Johor MCA source, the newly appointed councilors could not swear in as scheduled as there were “some noises” which had resulted in the swearing in ceremony to be postponed. At the moment negotiations on the allocation of the quota were underway.

The Johor Bahru City Council (MBJB) councilors will be taking oath on the coming Sunday, presently MCA has got seven councilors, two less than the original nine, but its number of councilors in MPJBT has been increased to nine from seven previously, there was speculation that the extra two MCA councilors might be moved over to MBJB.

The source told Kwong Wah Yit Poh that up to now there was no notification on the matter.

Only two more days to go for the swearing in, it remains to be seen whether there will be any change.

Meanwhile, according to a source from Gerakan, there were two reasons why the swearing in ceremony of MPJBT was postponed. The first being there is only one quota for Ulu Choh Umno in Kulai Municipal Council (MPK), causing the Gelang Patah Umno grassroots to rebound; second being the breaking of tradition in MPJBT where Chinese councilors outnumbered Malays.

The source said following the realignment of the four local governments in southern Johor beginning of this year, the Ulu Choh district which was previously under the purview of MPJBT was put under the purview of MPK, but there was only one Umno councilor from Ulu Choh on the new list of MPK causing discontent among the Umno members.

“This was the reason why during the swearing in ceremony on Tuesday, councilor from Ulu Choh left the hall abruptly without taking oath after receiving a call.”

Sources said at the moment all parties concerned were still in the process of negotiating, the Chinese councilors would be ‘axed’ if the negotiation breaks down.”

“It is believed that the quota of the four Indian councilors in MPJBT will not be slashed as the Indian voters had been supportive of Barisan Nasional in the last general election whereas the rate of support from the Chinese voters was not high, therefore if the negotiation breaks down the Chinese councilors will be ‘axed’.”

Quota fixed by state government

On the other hand, according to the source from MCA, the quota of the councilors of the four local councils were fixed by the state government, appointments were made after taking into consideration strategy to win in the next general election.

Sources said MCA’s quota will not be slashed and will also not be transferred to MBJB as the arrangement was made to ensure Barisan’s success in the coming general election.

“The Johor Bahru central district is a peculiar area, it consists of the Gelang Patah parliamentary constituency and two state assembly seats; while the Gelang Patah parliamentary constituency and Kulai state seat belongs to MCA and Gerakan respectively, Umno had contested in Iskandar Puteri (formerly known as Nusajaya) state seat, the arrangement for more Chinese councilors is with the aim to improve the odds in the next general election.”

Sources said relatively, in the single parliamentary constituency and four state seats in Johor Bahru, Umno had occupied three seats, therefore the quota for Malay councilors would be bigger and the number of Chinese councilors had been reduced to seven from the original nine.

Sources said the more crucial factor is the state executive council meeting scheduled to be held last week had been postponed to next week, it is believed that the exco meeting would solve the problem accordingly.

“The problem (the postponement on the swearing in of MPJBT councilors) has nothing to do with MCA, it is just the problem of Umno.”