Thesun 2009-05-05 Page11 Star Rating Of Local Authorities

theSun

11

| TUESDAY MAY 5 2009

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Star rating of local authorities FOR the first received two time, 98 local stars and two one authorities in star. Peninsular On the other Malaysia were end of the scale, assessed and Malacca and Serated. The Houslangor performed ing and Local rather well. In Government Malacca, two Ministry should out of three local be commended councils obtained for making the four stars and the LocalCounsel results public remainder three by Goh Ban Lee and posting them stars. Of the 12 on its website local councils in (www.kpkt.gov.my). Selangor, four received four There were no surprises. stars, five three stars and No local authority was three had two. awarded the maximum There have been very five stars. Ten obtained four few public discussions on stars, 24 three stars, 46 two the star ratings. Housing stars and 18 one star. Kuala and Local Government Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) Minister Datuk Seri Kong with four stars had the highCho Ha should hold a press est score of 84.50 out of 100 conference to explain the points and Bandar Baharu implications of the results District Council in Kedah and disclose what follow-up received one star with only actions are being planned to 27 points. improve the performance of On the whole, city counthe local authorities. cils including DBKL and Unfortunately, so far, municipal councils obtained public reactions were higher ratings than district focused on blame games. councils. Of the ten local auDespite both councils havthorities that were awarded ing three stars, the Penang four stars, besides DBKL, Gerakan blamed the Pakathree were city councils tan Rakyat state government and the rest were municipal for the “dismal” showings, councils. All the 18 local especially the Penang Island councils that obtained one Municipal Council (MPPP) star and 36 out of the 48 which was ranked 21st with that received two stars were a score of 68.75 points. The district councils. state executive councillor in There were notable excharge of local government, ceptions. Kuala Terengganu Chow Kon Yeow, replied City Council obtained only that the previous Barisan two stars with 58.25 points Nasional state government while Kuala Langat District should shoulder the blame Council had three stars as the study was conducted with 68.75 points. Kluang just after the March 8, 2008 Municipal Council in Johor elections and it would take obtained two stars with only sometime to change things. 48 points. A review of the rating Kelantan fared poorly. process is necessary. When Out of 12 local councils, the ratings received more publicity, many will wonder only Kota Baru Municipal about its robustness. Council was awarded three For instance, it is difficult stars while seven received to understand how MPPP two stars and four one could be ranked below star. Johor and Kedah also Seberang Perai Municipal performed poorly. Five of Council (MPSP) which was the 12 councils in Kedah ranked 16th with a score obtained one star while four of 72.05 points. How could obtained two stars. In Johor, a council that was accused nine of the 15 local councils

by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng of serious mismanagement of its RM225 million reserves in five years be getting a relatively higher score? It is interesting to note that in Penang and Selangor, where the local councils scored relatively well in the star rating, the people voted to change the state governments in the last general elections. In Kelantan, where the local councils fared badly, the voters supported their state government. The point is that the findings should not be taken too seriously, especially as a basis for comparison. It was the first attempt and there is no doubt that the ministry will improve the methodology. An important area of review is to ensure that the rating system takes into account the vast resource disparities among the local authorities. Was the same yardstick used to measure the performance of DBKL with about a billion ringgit budget and hundreds of professionals and district councils that were not only poor but were inadequately staffed? In this regard, it is not advisable to reward local authorities having four stars with RM200,000 each. What is this sum to DBKL? Surely, RM200,000 will be much more useful to the district councils, such as those of Bandar Baharu, Setiu, Pasir Mas, Tumpat or Sik. The focus of the rating process should be on identifying weaknesses and improving governance and not on competition among the local authorities. Financial assistance should be given to the poorer councils. Dr Goh Ban Lee is a retired academic interested in urban governance, housing and urban planning. Comments: [email protected].

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Use standard lightning rods I REFER to the lightning related accident at Putrajaya Hospital (April 11). In December 2008, I visited Malaysia to establish the Centre of Excellence on Lightning at Putrajaya University. I was surprised to see the number of buildings in Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur, installed with ESE devices. For the last 20 years the scientific world, except for a few scientists, has been campaigning against the early streamer emission (ESE) technology. The acclaimed efficiency of this technology has neither

been proven experimentally nor theoretically. Statistics from many countries show that the number of buildings damaged by lightning despite having ESE rods is overwhelmingly high. In many countries, especially in Europe and the US, the ESE market has diminished due to increasing awareness and strict legal directives. However, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, the countries with the most lightning activity in the world, are flooded with this unscientific and unethical gadgetry. It is the responsibility of

governments to safeguard the public against such substandard products which have been rejected by most leading international standards. The Centre of Excellence on Lightning Protection (CELP) has issued an official warning to the Malaysian authorities in this regard. For more information, contact Dr Zainal Kadir, chairman, CELP, Department of Electrical Engineering, Putra University. Dr Chandima Gomes Uppsala, Sweden