THE Kajang Municipal Council (MPKj) and Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) are currently without presidents.
MPKj president Datuk Hassan Nawawi Abdul Rahman’s term ended in February while the post in MPSJ has been vacant for over a month since past president Datuk Adnan Md Ikshan, was made Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Ministry’s deputy secretary-general.
MPKj councillor Lee Kee Hiong said Hassan’s term ended on Feb 15 and he was given a month to hand over his duties to the council secretary. Hence, it can be considered that the council president’s post has been vacant since March 15.
Fellow councillor S.T. Chandra-mohan said so far there has been no hiccups in the council’s operations.
“Meetings can be chaired by local councillors and we have distributed the president’s duties and authorised the council secretary to undertake some of his responsibilities,” he said.
“But we hope the position will be filled as soon as possible,” he said.
MPSJ councillor Rajiv Rishyakaran said he did not consider the council “headless” as deputy president Abdullah Marjunid had automatically assume the role of acting president.
“The business of the council is not affected. The only changes are the different styles of working,” he said.
He believes that most councillors have no problems working with the acting president.
On the attributes of the new president, Rajiv said he must be sensitive to the desires of the community, able to lead and make full use of the talents of the staff and councillors.
“He must be solution-oriented, have a burning desire to make Subang Jaya a world class city, and be creative and open to radical ideas to get things done despite limited resources,” he said.
Another MPSJ councillor, Dr Loi Kim Kheng Min, said the MPSJ machinery was functioning well, but the council needed a leader to guide the councillors and staff.
“A local council needs a servant-leader, who engages the stakeholders, i.e. the residents, attend to their needs and be able to act fast.
“Like a CEO, the council president needs to be hands-on and walk the talk, and be quiet and humble in his job,” he said.
Subang Jaya assemblyman Hannah Yeoh concurred that there had been no disruption in MPSJ’s operations as things had proceeded normally and meetings were still held regularly.
“There’s plenty of room for improvement in terms of rubbish collection and I hope the new council head will come in soon and improve this area.
“He should also ensure that the directors perform,” she said.
Selangor state executive councillor Ronnie Liu disagreed that the two councils were “headless” because they had deputy presidents to take over the preisdent’s responsibilities for the time being.
“In MPKj’s case, we have decided to ask Datuk Hassan Nawawi to continue in his post as it is also his will to stay, and we agreed.
“We have written to the federal government about this,” he said.
He added: “As for MPSJ, we are still in the process of searching for a candidate, the post should be filled by next month.”
When asked about the delay in filling the vacancies, Liu replied: “When we want to appoint a certain person, we have to discuss among ourselves and send it to the federal government to consider.
“The state government cannot decide totally, that’s why there is a delay. I hope the federal government would respect the state’s decision,” he added.