‘Very naughty’ community leaders who go against the government may be dropped when their term of service expires.
Social Development Minister Tan Sri William Mawan said there was no place for this type of leaders and as such they ought to be replaced.
“You can’t have people who stab the government on the back because at the end of the day we want people to be loyal so that our delivery system can really benefit them in line with the ‘People First, Performance Now’ slogan, and it must be consistent,” he told reporters after chairing the Sarikei Division Community Leaders, Village Headmen Selection Panel meeting here yesterday….
He said after much consultation with the relevant government agencies and local leaders, some community leaders had their term of service extended for a year or two while some were replaced.
That a ‘democratically elected’ politician can get away with making such outrageous statements is scarcely credible in the world of the 21st Century.
This is a direct threat to community leaders/headmen, which this government pay only in order to control and sack at will.
There is not even the slightest attempt to pretend that headmen should have some right of independence, in order to protect the interests of their communities.
No, Mawan makes clear exactly what he means by “going against the government”. He is referring to headmen who want to speak up for their people, when they find necessary to do so or to criticise bad governance or harmful policies like the dam programme.
Especially, Mawan means allowing people in their community to vote for the opposition if they want! But, none of these things are naughty, they are right and they are also a human right.
The truth is that it is Mr Mawan’s patronising political party of government that is “very naughty”. They break the law by stealing massively from the state and they abuse their human rights commitments by undermining democracy in numerous ways such as this.