ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL -DID IT?

As I go through the autumn of my years and am writing this on a cool summer day amidst the flora and fauna of the beautiful English garden, my mind starts to reminisce about my sojourn as a councillor in MBPJ.

It was a wonderful two years as I made many good friends amongst the councillors, staff and management. However it would be better if I had another one more year to implement other ground-breaking initiatives in MBPJ.

I am rather pleased that the Independent Audit and Corporate Governance Committee, Quick Response Team and Unit Aduan Salahlaku (Wrongdoing Complaint Unit) were implemented during my tenure of office. But certain DAP political leaders for reasons best known to them, have other ideas to “promote” me to become an advisor for the yet-to-be formed Selangor Local Government Advisory Council.

It would be nicer if I could have completed the final report on the investigation of low cost flats allegedly “stolen” by 500 MBPJ staff. An interim report had been submitted to the Selangor Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) and the whole state Exco members. The interim report has shown that little knowledge is dangerous and in the hands of a misguided person would prove disastrous to the morale of the staff. The accusation implied that one-third of the staff in MBPJ are crooks! The Brits here would say, “Oh! Blimey – what a baloney?”

Without going through the gory details, it could be possible for 5 staff to collude and steal 5 low cost flats for themselves. For 50 staff to do that would be near impossible. It would be ludicrous to believe that 500 staff could have colluded and executed such a big scam without the previous government knowing it? Initial investigation has now shown there is prima facie evidence that the accusation could be just another storm in a tea cup.

It is sad that after my “promotion”, no DAP-nominated councillor was present in the last two audit committee meetings. Of course tongues went wagging that my replacement had wanted to exchange portfolio with another councillor. Anyone would expect that when you exchange an old lamp for a new one – it would shine brighter. It is even more surprising that a party that preaches to all and sundry about CAT – Competency, Accountability and Transparency would allow such folly to happen and it speaks volume of the competency of certain party leaders in Selangor.

The Unit Aduan Salahlaku a whistleblower-type of protection system for informers and complainants was approved in the dying days of my council term. I proposed it should be further enhanced by having an independent Ombudsman to oversee the system. The NEAC after meeting Derek Fernandez (top lawyer n fellow councillor) and me last month will be recommending this to be implemented in all BN controlled states.

There are three more initiatives which have yet to be implemented. The Polis Bantuan (or Auxiliary Police) program to help fight crime in PJ which has been rejected by the Polis but appeal had been made to the Minister of Home Affairs. Hopefully, if we get a new IGP, the proposal will see the light of the day.

My most passionate program is the 3-strike rule for improving the cleanliness of restaurants and eateries in PJ. There is a huge clamour for better hygienic eateries in PJ and the whole of Selangor. The system even allows for 2 appeals. If implemented, MBPJ will be the first council in Malaysia to allow an appeal on its summons issued to eateries. The 3-strike rule is actually 3 strikes of the SAME offence committed within a calendar year. The public health of 650,000 residents in PJ should override the commercial interests of eateries. Most restaurants would be able to comply as only serious offences such as typhoid injections for food handlers are counted as an offence in the 3 strike-rule. Hopefully, the State government and political leaders will listen to voices of the people and uphold public hygiene.

To improve security I had proposed backstreet lighting to provide a brighter area to assist in mitigating the crime situation. MBPJ has yet to fully implement the plan.

In my last posting in my blog entitled – “DEJA VU IN MBPJ” I wrote this - I heard the murmurings in the corridors of power in MBPJ that a powerful MP aka as the “puppet master” was trying very hard to lobby for a change of zone for his prodigy. It seems that he asked two senior councillors to swop zones with his prodigy as he felt that he is too young and immature to handle the zone (vacated by me) which is an affluent upper middle class area populated with professionals

Good news and bad news on this

Good news is that the matter is now settled and the bad news is that it was settled one month late. Residents of my former zone 5 were without a councillor since the last council term ended on July 5, 2010. Imagine it was not even settled at the last council meeting on 28th July – what a mess!

As narrated earlier, the puppet master tried to convince another party leader to swop zone with his prodigy because it seems he could not speak proper English and too young for the matured upper middle class and English speaking suburbs of Damansara Jaya and Damansara Utama.

Whatever it is the new prodigy would still be a better candidate than a disgraced lawyer earlier appointed by the puppet master. The aforesaid abortive attempt has become a twitter war between two strong DAP leaders. Watch this space for an update on that as the DAP Disciplinary hearing is on Thursday 12 August 2010. It is never a dull day in Malaysia!

Luckily, we have good DAP national leaders who intervened and removed the disgraced lawyer in the nick of time about 6 hours before the announcement of the list of councillors. Otherwise it would be a big embarrassment to the PR government in general and to DAP in particular. Someone remarked, “DAP young and highly educated leaders appear to have a warped value system of competency, accountability and transparency”. Beats me – politicians are the same all over the world – self-preservation and self-interest override people’s interest

I am glad that Terrance Tan has now taken over my Zone 5 in place of the prodigy. Terrance with one year councillor’s experience, a sales background and English speaking would be more suitable for the zone and I wish him well. Both DJROA and DUROA are very active residents’ associations and DJROA has won the Best Neighbourhood award during my tenure and they deserve the best. Terrance will co-share the Zone 5, with the venerable PAS leader Tuan Haji Ahmad Yusof.

So the saga ends, ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL – DID IT?

Will it be a “NEVER ENDING STORY” Meanwhile, I continue to enjoy my afternoon tea and scones with clotted cream.

Picture shows me taking my grand-daughter for a walk near London UK - it's me that needs the walk haha!

DEJA VU AT MBPJ

DEJA VU AT MBPJ
OLD LAMPS FOR NEW

Thurs 15 JuIy – I was at the swearing-in ceremony of the new councillors of MBPJ (Petaling Jaya City Council) to support my comrades who managed to survived the tormenting two weeks of hullabaloo over the appointment of councillors.

It was sort of a mixed feeling – a déjà vu of sorts. I was sworn in end July 2008 about a month late because I was at the time of announcement, in London attending an ACCA meeting, of which I was a Board member. If given the choice I would like to continue as councillor rather than be “promoted” to be an Advisor at State level advising all the 12 local councils in Selangor. The surreptitious and diabolical plan to promote me as an Advisor has now with God’s blessing, turning into something more substantive than a mere advisor. Nevertheless, my Lord has been kind to me and has protected me from the valley of the shadows of death (Psalm 23) and was comforted by Genesis 50v20 when Joseph told his brothers - "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good".

As I was watched the ceremony, I felt saddened that some of my ex-colleagues were not there namely Panneer Selvam, Mohd Halil and Prof Dr Melasutra. Paneer representing Parti Sosialist Malaysia (PSM) was dropped and replaced by a PKR man as reported in the Star today. However, Melasutra though selected, has opted out due to heavy university and family commitments. All of them have served with great distinction and may I on behalf of PJ folks say, “SYABAS”.

In the story of Aladdin, old lamps were exchanged for new lamps and hopefully the new lamps with better LED technology can shine brighter. Five new faces took their oaths namely:
1) Megat Iskandar (business management consultant) - NGO
2) Jeyaseelan T (lawyer) -DAP
3) Tony Cheong Siew Thong (Computer graphics designer) DAP
4) Khairul Anuar (Engineer/Unionist) PKR
5) Kandiah Subramaniam (Trade Unionist).PKR

Most of them are matured and experienced professionals and the perennial challenge facing councillors is whether they can devote more of their time on council work. This is especially true of councillors who are full-time employees or practising professionals and hopefully the new councillors are able to juggle their time better.

I heard the murmurings in the corridors of power in MBPJ that a powerful MP aka as the “puppet master” was trying very hard to lobby for a change of zone for his prodigy. It seems that he asked two senior councillors to swop zones with his prodigy as he felt that he is too young and immature to handle the zone (vacated by me) which is an affluent upper middle class area populated with professionals.

Up to the time of writing, these two councillors refused to swop as they reckoned that if the candidate is not matured enough to be a councillor of MBPJ, then why was he selected in the first place? Isn’t it sad that the “puppet master” placed feudalistic loyalty over the suitability of the candidate and short-changes the PJ rate-payers? Isn't this the same MP who tells BN/UMNO they are incompetent, corrupt and practises cronyism? One would have thought that a new lamp should shine brighter than the older one.

Another story going around was that a senior party member cum councillor has also been lobbying hard to change the service zone apparently he/she cannot serve in the zone within the constituency of the present Adun. Is there another political fallout or sandiwara? Watch out for updates on this in this blog.

An ex-councillor remarked, “Michael, how come you have been replaced by a computer graphic designer in the Audit and Corporate Governance committee which you have founded and spearheaded in MBPJ and Selangor ? He quipped, "maybe your audit reports lack computer graphic design" and he then chuckled.- that speaks volume of the puppet master’s commitment to competency accountability and transparency”

I replied, “In politics, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies – only permanent interests”. Politicians are all the same on both sides of the political divide, the main objective is self-preservation and the ends justify the means”

At this juncture, I am reminded by this great quote by Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux in a speech to the British House of Commons (Jan 29, 1828).
Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive;
Easy to govern but impossible to enslave.

Let us continue to support the new councilors and pray that they will uphold the universal values of justice, equality, competency, accountability and transparency and not succumb to temptations and unethical political pressures

May our good Lord continue to bless Malaysia inspite of our inequities.

SUN Newspaper - 14 July 2010 - Limit Term of Councillors

************************************************************************************
‘LIMIT TERM OF
LOCAL COUNCILLORS’
SHAH ALAM: An assemblyman has suggested that the state government study the possibility of limiting the term of local councillors to inject accountability at all levels of councillorship. The move was to encourage and provide better chances to the grassroots to serve as councillors, Lau Weng San (DAP-Kampung Tunku) said when debating the second supplementary supply bill at the state assembly yesterday.
************************************************************************************

CONGRATULATIONS! I must commend and applaud YB Lau for his call to limit the term of councillors. This is in line with good corporate governance practice worldwide. The issue is how long should be the term and whether they can be reappointed after a term break of say, 2 years. The alternative is to transfer the councillors after x number of years to another council nearby especially if we do not want to lose good and talented councillors.

However, this fine politically correct statement is seriously negated by the reason given ie "The move was to encourage and provide better chances to the grassroots to serve as councillors" This smacks of cronyism which was practised by the BN controlled government. Previously, the appointments were made as a reward for party members and served as a "food chain" to distribute the largesse.

At the 308 General Election, voters rallied round the PR's call of "Change". People cried for compentency, accountability and transparency (CAT ). So have we betrayed the people by appointing people based on party loyalty rather than CAT - just as BN? President Obama's battle cry was "Change that we can believe" NOW can we believe PR/DAP?

The appointment of councillors is governed under Section 10(2) of the Local Government Act 1976 (LGA) which states, inter alia, “Who have achieved distinction in any profession, commerce or industry.

If we analyse the background and CV of the councillors nominated by the PR parties the majority of them DO NOT meet the criteria of "have achieved distinction ..."

I hope YB Lau Weng San could retract the statement because it is not good for his personal image that he is prepared to sacrifice public interest over "shiok sendiri" for party members. Also being a lawmaker himself, he should show good example by following the letter of the law as aforesaid.

Once again I like to thank YB Lau for highlighting the issue but would advise that the more important issue is the "quality" of councillors appointed. Voters want quality councillors and not just party members on a "shiok sendiri" ego trip.

Make PJ a city of choice

Friday October 31, 2008
Make PJ a city of choice
My CouncillorBy JADE CHAN
Full name: Michael Soon Kwai Choy Age: 57 Marital status: Married with two children Career: Started as an audit clerk, then held several executive and senior managerial positions at various multinational companies. Last served as managing director of a technology company. Currently an independent non-executive director and chairman of an audit and corporate governance committee of a public listed company. Zone responsibility: SS7, SS11, SS21, SS22 & SS22A (PJ) Contact: 012-248 2722/ msoonkc@gmail.com
MICHAEL SOON desires to make Petaling Jaya a “city of choice”.
“When (not if) PJ is made a clean, liveable, safe and people-friendly city, people will come and not mind paying a premium for houses here,” said the chartered accountant who has been staying in PJ for the past 40 years.
He feels his passion for hygiene, cleanliness and corporate governance will be useful in the committees he will be sitting on: Infrastructure and Traffic Advi-sory; Health, Legal and Enforce-ment; Audit and Administration, and Sustainable Development.
Soon volunteered to head the Public Hygiene and Sanitation Committee (a subcommittee under Health, Legal & Enforce-ment) to address the issues of dirty toilets and public areas.
Michael Soon Kwai Choy
“The problems stem from lack of enforcement, and the public’s reaction and sense of consciousness,” he said.
“Why do certain people mess up while using the toilets, or patronise a restaurant even after it was temporarily sealed because of cleanliness issues?” he asked.
“Thus the MBPJ has embarked on a clean-up project in SS2 – an iconic landmark for hawkers and restaurants – and to use it as a model for us to improve the rest of PJ.”
Some of the things that have been implemented in SS2 are getting Alam Flora to clean the drains, getting coffee shops to clean up, enforcing the installation of grease traps.
“We’re now in the process of producing a new set of guidelines to uplift the standard of cleanliness at all eating outlets. The guidelines will also apply to all toilets and public places.
“I believe in educating people first, before taking sterner action. There are tougher laws to address serious offenders like by hurting their pockets via fines or closing their outlets.”
On corporate governance, Soon said it was about behaviour and improving the council’s public delivery system.
“To improve work culture, contractors are now not allowed to call councillors to lobby for jobs.
“If contractors are caught harassing councillors, I’d suggest that they be blacklisted.
“To eliminate the rent culture, contractors for small jobs are now not allowed to sell their contracts or subcontract a major part of the work, especially for contracts less than RM20,000.”
To improve the public delivery system, Soon said the MBPJ was considering setting up a Quick Response Team (QRT) to tackle minor repair jobs like potholes, tree trimming and drains, and to revamp its complaints system by monitoring complaints online or via phone calls through a 24-hour call centre.
“People get upset when they don’t know the status of their complaints. With the new system, someone from the QRT has to respond within 24 hours. The complainant will also get the name, contact details and department of the person handling the complaint, as well as a timeframe for the response.
“If the issue is beyond what the QRT can handle and has to be passed on, then the person from the subsequent department has to make sure the complaint is followed through while keeping the complainant updated.”
Soon concluded: “The challenge is to address a culture when transparency and accountability has been lacking, and to provide value- for-money service to the PJ community.”

Turbulent Times

Firstly, I wish to thank my friend Anthony Siva Balan who has been a great encourager for me to start my personal blog. I have had previously started two other blogs but never felt compelled to share my thoughts on cyberspace.

Anthony is a friend whom I met when I served in the MBPJ as a councillor from July 2008 until 6 July 2010. At a Selangor State function on Tuesday 6 July 2010, the Selangor Menteri Besar, YAB Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim announced that I have been dropped as a councillor but "promoted" to become an Advisor in a State level 20 man-Advisory committee for councillors.

As reported in the national press, it was rather a bittersweet feeling for me. I was happy that my contributions as a councillor have been recognised by the MB himself but had the sad feeling of leaving behind the councillor post in MBPJ. In my sojourn in MBPJ, I have made many friends whom I have never met before I became a councillor. There are too many to list here but nevertheless, Derek, Anthony, Latheefa, Cynthia, Chan, Robert, Francis, Tang, Ahmad Yusof, Rama, Muz and Richard have all become bosom friends.

I met up with MB last Wed 7th July, and had a fruitful discussion with him on the role of an Advisor and the Advisory Committee. I have been tasked to draw up the terms of reference of the Advisory Committee and recommend changes to be made to strengthen this committee.

Why did I call this period "Turbulent Times?" In the vicissitudes of my life, I have been through a lot and the last three weeks have been extremely challenging. It was a period filled with intrigues, jealousies, betrayals and a great symphony of orchestrated lies but I was comforted by great heroes and heroine who came to my aid. Being a professional and not a politician, I was not used to the dirty business of politicking and experienced first hand the meaning of "the end justify the means".

I was reminded by Genesis 50v20 when Joseph told his brothers - "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good". I will be entering a new phase of my life and as usual will give my all to public service in competency, accountability and transparency. I will be walking with trepidations but am assured that the Lord will be walking with me.

The Truth will set us free.