Friday, July 18, 2008

Perak's new Local Councillors - lets get down to work.

Perak appointed 338 local councillors of Friday 18th July.Was it a big deal? You bet it was. This new batch of councillors applied for the posts and were interviewed before being selected.

Previously the councillors were selected by the then ruling government. The result was an Ipoh Town growing old and ungracefully with uncollected garbage and clogged drains generally a town where nothing seemed to work systematically. Interestingly enough nobody seemed to know who their councillors were and subsequently turned to the state assemblymen to air their grouses. The previous city councils inefficiency was a factor which swayed the rakyat to vote for a change and the swearing in ceremony on Friday was evidence of the change.

The announcement of the Mayor and local councilors was held simultaneously on Friday 18th July.

At 745am the councillors came in to to collect their appointment letters.


Gathering in groups to read their new roles and responsibilities.

The statement for their oath of office.

For the album.The Councillors from Kinta Selatan and Taiping.

Sitting together.



Dato' Francis Lee rehersing the oath taking statement .

The Exco were in the front row.

The ADUN's a row behind. Visibly absent were the ADUN's from Barisan.



Singing the Negara Ku......

Listening to Nga Kor Ming ....

An overview of the gathering at the Banquet Hall ( pls click on the photos to enlarge)

Below....MB Nizar addressing the congregation. I like the way he greets the rakyat in their respective languages and dialects. The various communities always respond either verbally or with their hands together and a nod of the head. A truly communal greeting befitting of our multi racial community.
His address was inspiring." You are the ears and eyes of the community...made up of professionals, politicians and ngo's...carry out your duties to the very best of your abilities...2008 .. this is a new chapter ...green,black,red or even rocket...the composition is multi racial..you have to tolerate and live with each other "..he recites the national anthem "negara ku, tanah tumpahnya darahku, rakyat hidup bersatu dan maju " .... his address is regularly interspersed with claps of approval.. "yours is a now a responsible position ... to ensure your areas are well maintained..you must provide quick and fast delivery to the rakyat...you can even help to bring in foreign investors..at executive level we tell investors everything is fine but on the actual field it is a different story...." then he mentions a new age duty .." keep your hand phones on..even 24 hours ..be reachable"...he gave the example of a flood situation at Taiping the night before where he was able to get an immediate update of the situation by calling to the reps from Aulong and Pokok Asam...(claps of approval from the floor)

Dato Francis Lee, the Chairman of REHDA (Real Estate and Housing Developers Association) leading the councillors to read the Oath of Office before the Certificates of Appointment are presented to them.

The new Mayor of Ipoh En Roshidi Hashim.

The councillors from Taiping &Manjoi

....from Kinta Barat & Kinta Selatan

The new Councillors of MBI. (the names of MBI's coincillors is listed below)

The councillors from Teluk Intan. Note Mr Kennedy Hong ( seated far right on a wheel chair-President of the Society of Chinese Disabled Persons Malaysia)

With this team that Nga Kor Ming has put together I doubt if the BN team under Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli's prediction to wrest back control of Perak by August will even see a glimmer of hope. As it is, among the newly appointed councillors 5 were Barisan members.

Indeed there is a new optimism in the air. Its as if everyone appointed is raring to put their best foot forward. Datuk Seri Tajol's prediction will just have to take the back seat for now. Nobody in Perak wants another 50 years of neglect. Lets move forward. Let get down to work.

kk

The list of MBI Councillors.
1.NG LAI HOONG 2.SURESH S/O HARI KRISHNAN
3.CHEAH POU HIAN 4. LIU THEN TUI 5. CHAN TONG TUAN 6.YIP MUN CHIEN 7. WONG YOON CHONG 8. M.KULA SEGARAN 9. LEE KIN CHIEW 10. DR. KHAIRUDDIN BIN DATO’ ABD MALEK 11. RADZI BIN AINON 12. HAJI WAN AHMAD TARMIZI BIN ABDUL AZIZ 13. LIOW YEONG LIH 14. AYYATHURAI A/L AGHUTHARAMAN 15. SHAMSUL KAMAL BIN ALWI 16. DING POOI KOOI 17. RAJASEGARAN A/L V. N. RAJAH 18. MOHD. ZABIDI BIN ABDUL LATIFF 19. DATO’ FRANCIS LEE 20. CHEAH POH TING 21. DATO’ MOHD ARIFF BIN SHAFFIE 22. DR. NGIAM SWEE KEAT

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