Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Perak village heads to meet Mat Taib over new post


The Star Online > Nation Sunday March 30, 2008

TAIPING: Village chiefs in Perak who resigned en bloc plan to meet Rural and Regional Development Minister Senator Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib to discuss new appointments to enable them to continue serving the rakyat.
Perak Village Head Organisation executive council member Ahmad Fuade Abdul Wahid said the new posts could be modelled after those introduced in Opposition-held states such as Kelantan.
“Most of the village chiefs in Perak are staunch Umno supporters and Umno branch leaders.
“It is against our principles to serve with the (present) Perak Government,” he told reporters after collecting 109 resignation letters from village chiefs in the Larut Matang and Selama (LMS) district here yesterday.
He said only two village chiefs from Ijok and Selama had pledged their support for the new state government.
Ahmad Fuade said the forms would be handed over to Mentri Besar Muhammad Nizar Jamaluddin on Tuesday.
“We are giving a month’s notice effective April 1,” he said.
Ahmad Fuade said with the notification, all the 786 village development and security committees (JKKK) in Perak would automatically cease to exist from May 1.
Earlier at the gathering, LMS Village Head Organisation secretary Hamdan Murad said in Kelantan, the post of Pengerusi Penyelaras Kampung (village coordination chairman) was created by the Federal Government.
“When Terengganu was held by the Opposition, similar posts were also created by the Federal Government and we will raise this matter when we meet Tan Sri Muhammad,” he said.
Before the handing over of the resignation letters, an elderly village chief questioned the rationale behind the mass resignation, saying there could be chaos at the grassroots.
Citing an example, he said those wanting to get married would face hassles as they could not get their marriage consent form to be signed due to the absence of their village chief.
Hamdan said such matters could instead be handled by the Penghulu.
Meanwhile earlier in the day, Muhammad Nizar, who met reporters after the swearing-in ceremony of the new state exco line up at Istana Iskandariah, said he was not aware of the mass resignations.
“I didn’t force them to resign but elections for village chiefs will be held (when such posts are vacated),” he said.

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