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Malaysian Socialist Party people's consultative council launched
Malaysian Socialist Party - June 8, 2008
Sungai Siput – Democracy took on new meaning for the people of Sg Siput with the launching of the Majlis Perundingan Rakyat (MPR) or People's Consultative Council by the Sg Siput Branch of the Parti Sosialis Malaysia on 8 June 2008.
One hundred and twenty delegates from about 15 local Sg Siput committees turned up for this first meeting with Dr. Kumar, the newly-elected Socialist Member of Parliament of Sg Siput and the PSM team. Among the delegates were plantation workers, urban pioneers, farmers, traditional kampung dwellers, FELDA villagers, Orang Asli villagers, Chinese new villagers, housing estate residents and interested observers and guests. The delegation at the first PSM-MPR was a good reflection of the ethnic and socio-economic diversity of the constituency of Sg Siput.
An account of the work done by the PSM Sg Siput branch over the three months since the elections was presented by Comrade Sugu who made references to the PSM Bulletin, a widely-circulated newsletter in three languages for the constituents of Sg Siput. It was an account of the grassroots work normally done by any PSM branch with the exception that the number of people's issues handled in just three months was phenomenal. The service centre itself attracted more than 300 cases, shooting up by 400% compared to the 250 cases per year received in the period before PSM won the Sg Siput seat. The PSM Sg Siput also became actively involved in a record number of areas involving issues faced by people from 3 housing areas, 3.farming communities, 6 urban pioneer villages, several orang asli kampung, 3 resettled Malay kampungs and 2 estates. An election victory has always been seen by the PSM as a ticket to organise and empower the community and the PSM team of Sg Siput have responded by setting up people's committees in each of the affected area.
Dr Kumar spoke of the first Parliamentary session, the questions raised by him and the responses received. He had compiled the list of questions he had raised and the responses in a red booklet, copies of which were made available to interested groups and organizations. Dr Kumar also gave the delegates a handout highlighting the issues he had brought up during the motion on the royal address and whilst debating the Additional Budget of RM18.7 billion. In his intervention on the royal address he had spoken on 3 main issues: the need to abolish the ISA, the unrealistically low official poverty line of RM690 and about economic projects designed for the Orang Asli that in reality benefited third parties. While debating the budget he had spoken up on better remuneration for doctors in government hospitals to stem the brain drain, and for a special fund to help retrenched workers pay up bank loans. He also had spoken up against the government's health tourism project and questioned the government's application for an additional budget of RM18.7 billion without giving Parliament a detailed statement of what it was meant for. The delegates at the PSM-MPR were encouraged to forward issues they wished to raise in the sessions to come in Parliament.
The delegates to the PSM-MPR were pleasantly surprised when they were consulted on how the development budget of RM500,000 for Sg Siput should be spent. They had in previous times heard about some vague development budget but had never been asked for ideas on what it should be spent on. Based on the response from the Prime Minister's Department to an MP in Parliament that the development budget would be made available to all MPs regardless of political affiliation, the PSM had decided to approach people for their opinions. 7 suggestions were made, 5 from previous informal feedback from the public, as shown in the table:
The participants were told that they could continue to give feedback for another week before the proposals were forwarded to the State Development Office that had been tasked with the evaluation of proposals and the disbursement of the funds. It is hoped that the office will judge them strictly on merit and approve them.
A disaster fund to give immediate aid to victims of floods, fires and other emergencies was established during the PSM-MPR. Two delegates were elected to be the account holders for the fund along with a PSM member. The PSM started off the fund with RM1,278, the balance of a sum of money it had got from well-wishers previously, after disbursing
RM800 to 6 families in Kg Priang who were affected by a freak storm that damaged their houses.
The PSM-MPR meeting overall was promising, though initially the participants were somewhat unsure of what was expected of them. Normally in Malaysia, the MP speaks and the rest listen and applaud. Now they were being invited to give comments, suggestions and even criticisms. However after a little while they warmed up and actively participated. The discussion was translated into Chinese and Tamil to facilitate better participation.
With the launching of the PSM-MPR, democracy will not be a five-years'-once affair for the people of Sg Siput. Instead the PSM intends to facilitate continuous consultations between the people and their MP through the People's Consultative Council three months once or more if there is an urgent need. The PSM-MPR would provide an important avenue for the people to discuss and present their views, comments and criticism to the MP on local and national issues and on the performance of their elected representative. The PSM_MPR will inform the people of the kind of laws and policies adopted in Parliament, the highest law-making body of the land. It will give an insight into the role played and positions taken by elected representatives vis-à-vis issues affecting the rakyat. It will enable the people to discern if and to what extent parliament works for them, and if there is a need to resort to people's power to safeguard and further their interests. For it must be remembered that it was parliament that passed so many anti-people laws like the privatization of basic amenities, and it was also Parliament that saw the emasculation of the Employment Act.
The PSM believes that democracy should function all year round and not only for the 3 weeks before each elections. It is hoped that with the implementation of the Peoples' Consultative Council, democracy in Malaysia will be deepened and made more participatory.
The MPR was doubtless a new and empowering experience for the delegates who participated. Their views were sought and respected, and they were told that even though they had given Dr. Kumar the mandate to represent them, they had to continue playing a role in making Sg Siput a model socialist constituency with the interest of the people at its heart.
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