Our Inept Politicians

Ka Chuan: Human error not the cause

KUALA LUMPUR: The landslide which claimed four lives and destroyed 14 houses in Bukit Antarabangsa last Saturday was not caused by human error, said Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan.

He said heavy rainfall over the past few weeks caused the landslide.

"If the disaster was a result of human error, then the landslide would normally occur two or three years after the development project had been completed.

"But what transpired here occurred after 15 years.

"Therefore, it is plausible to say that the landslide was caused by natural factors.
"Nevertheless, the ministry will conduct a probe through discussions with several agencies including Ikram (Malaysian Public Works Institute), the Public Works Department and the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry."

It is learnt that a meeting to determine the actual cause of the landslide was held yesterday evening.

Speaking after visiting the site yesterday, Ong said a guidebook would be distributed to state governments and local authorities on guidelines for approving development projects in high-risk areas.

Sigh.

I don't have to explain what his statement shows. Anyone with a half the brain matter can see the utter hopelessness of the situation his words have painted.

This is what you get putting unqualified fools in ministerial posts as payback time. You help me, I help you. Kowtim Latuk, we split the Cabinet posts la. The ability and passion to make this a better nation and to gear the people towards excellence is not a requirement.

MCA secretary general with a BS in Literature. Oh sorry. BA. How much more can we take? He is not talking like a Minister concerned for the people. He is talking like an uneducated chinaman contractor/developer. Don't we reap what we sow much later? Has he heard of "long-term consequences"?

We are years behind in any form of technological advances given the brain freeze in our universities and lack of incentives or grants for innovations. Where are all our qualified Malaysians to advice the ministers? Why do we still have to suffer these fools? Even if the experts come up with suggestions or solutions in the papers or at conferences (as in the latest International Conference on Slope Management), do the Ministers take the time to listen or understand or do research? Do they expect those under the purview of their departments to strive for excellence? Are they themselves happy with the current state of affairs? Doesn't any one of them want to see Malaysia propelled to greater heights?

Our entire system is so lethargic and content or still bound by the "tidak apa", "close one eye" attitudes.

He is only one. We have many of the likes of him in cabinet. That is why Malaysia is going nowhere.

When the people take the initiative to do all the necessary groundwork, such as the missing child alert system proposed by the Nurin Alert citizens' initiative headed by Jasni, Nurin's uncle (with such excellent research done by Tembam here from the time Nurin went missing in 2007 the idea was not taken serious by the current Women's Minister, who even had the gall to say they can't splash a missing kid's picture in the papers just like that. Hasn't research shown that time is of the essence? Has she actually read the research and the success rates from the implementation? Just look at the Amber Alert system in the US which was extended to Europe. We may have some false alarms, but isn't it worth it just to be able to save one child suffer Nurin's fate? And the callousness of the Minister rejecting the name of the alert in memory of Nurin... unbelievable.

The same goes for the Transit group focussing on the transport issues, the CAP, CETDEM and many other NGOs and citizens' initiatives. All their efforts and suggestion have fallen on deaf ears.

How can we make them listen?

This is a an old piece by my Dato Anwar Fazal, a longtime activist and close relative. I think the points made are still relevant (full speech here):

I suggest the following 10 ideas to explore:

1. A national awareness campaign be launched called the “Local Democracy Project”. Its rallying cry could be “the Spirit of Community” or “Action for Better Cities (ABC)”. A charter outlining core principles and a plan of action could be developed. Endorsements could be obtained from hundreds, even thousands of key organisations and individuals. This could serve both as an awareness and advocacy tool with the aim of restoring popular participation in Local Authorities.

2. A Citizen Commission called the Local Democracy Commission be set up to formulate principles and plans for local democracy drawing from the rich experiences from the previous Royal Commission, subsequent reports, the UN Habitat Declaration and plans of action and current realities. The Commission could be chaired perhaps by former supreme court judge Tan Sri Harun Hashim who had earlier chaired a Royal Commission on salaries and working conditions in local authorities. He is also an advocate of local democracy. The proposed commission could, in particular, address the issues of competitive partisan politics, money politics and professional management.

3. As an immediate measure, all state governments should ensure that

i) 30 per cent of all local authority appointments go to women.

ii) 30 per cent of all appointments are from independent professional and other civil society organisations and which are not associated with party politics.

4. All appointed councillors should be allocated neighbourhood zones for which they would be responsible and accountable.

5. Citizens Consultative Councils be appointed at the ward/neighbourhood basis with a direct role of liaison with the local authority. These councils can be elected on a non-party basis by the residents. Voting can be through new clean, efficient and effective systems where no posters, banners and other wasteful circus/carnival modalities will be allowed. Instead, the local authority could send out a circular giving the bio-data of the candidates. The candidates can supplement these by visits and handouts while the local authorities can systematically organise public meetings to know the contradictions at community centres and such places.

6. Every local authority should develop Local Vision Statements, through popular participation of the resident. These could supplement and popularize the “clients charters” of local authorities.

7. “Peoples Report Cards”, could be organised as regular “Peoples’ Audits” on the performance or lack of performance of the respective councillors and authorities and specific services.

8. A systematic national Annual Dialogue could be undertaken by the Ministry of Local Government and housing and local authorities to get ideas and feedback before their budgets are planned. This procedure could benefit from the experience of the Ministry of Finance’s annual budget dialogues.

9. A comprehensive Website on Good Ideas and education about local democracy and management can be developed and cyberlinked to best practices globally. There are internationally over a hundred excellent sites relevant to good governance and local authorities. There could also be a section on malpractices or what some would call “crimes against the people.” Such a systematic effort of recording such struggles is important for systematic structural change as people have short memories.

10. A team from the conference should visit the new Minister of Local Government and Housing with a view to usher in a new era of Partnership and Participation in the spirit of the Istanbul Declaration and Plan of Action. The Ministry has recently declared its new policy to be “proactive.” I believe that it is one of those special times when change and ideas are most welcome."

Can we learn also something from the American and European Citizens' Initiatives here and here. Real participation to make sure all our representatives are on their toes. We need to reinforce the citizens' powers in matters of public and common interests. Our politicians just aren't bothered. We have to continuously prod and poke and monitor them.

New Report: Engaging Citizens in Government

By John Kamensky

Last year I wrote a pair of blog entries on ways to engage citizens in government (July 2007, October 2007) and another last month on a pilot effort to conduct a national dialogue among citizens. Some academics see broader engagement as one way to create the credibility and legitimacy needed for political officials to make difficult decisions. I think there’s something to this perspective.

This perspective was reflected in the 2008 Democratic Platform as well:

“We are committed to a participatory government. We will use the most current technology available to improve the quality of government decision-making and make government less beholden to special interest groups and lobbyists. We will enhance the flow of information between citizens and government—in both directions—by involving the public in the work of government agencies. We will not simply solicit opinions, but will also use new technology to tap into the vast expertise of the American citizenry, for the benefit of government and our democracy.” (page 54)

A coalition of organizations that advocate greater citizen engagement designed an action agenda for the Obama Administration that addresses the aspirations reflected in the Platform statement. This coalition of nearly 50 organizations including Demos, AmericaSpeaks, and Everyday Democracy, sponsored a conference in late summer to explore these issues and followed up by drafting a set of just-released recommendations in a paper entitled “Strengthening Our Nation’s Democracy:”

Create a White House Office of Civic Engagement. The new Obama Administration should create a White House-level office to serve as a government-wide focal point and provide leadership on a wide array of engagement efforts, such as an interagency network to build agency-level capacity to engage citizens in policy-making.

Convene National Discussions. The new President should signal a new kind of governance by calling on the American people to take part in a series of national discussions, engaging “millions of voices at the table” on issues of high-level concern such as the economy, healthcare, energy, and climate change.

Pursue a Legislative Agenda to Increase Participation. The new President should work with Congress to enhance citizen engagement by amending existing laws that limit participation, providing incentives for agencies to engage citizens, and enhancing electoral reforms.

The Coalition’s recommendations are reinforced by a recent Washington Post article by Michael Fletcher, “Think Tank Urges a Trust in Government Initiative Along with Obama Agenda.” The article summarizes a paper by Elaine Kamarck and Bill Galston who say the new president will need to “pursue an explicit trust strategy” in order to be effective in pursuing his policy initiatives. They say that unless the public trusts the government to do the right thing, the president may “Trust shapes the limits of political possibility,” said Kamarck.