LABUAN: Pakatan Harapan (PH) Labuan yesterday called for expediting the appointment of 27 village chiefs in the interest of the villagers.
Its chairman Simsudin Sidek said the list of candidates, as agreed by all the PH component parties and PH-friendly Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan), had been submitted to the Labuan Corporation (LC) local authority for endorsement.
“We must expedite the announcement and presentation of the appointment letters to the new village heads in the interest of the villagers. Despite it being a bitter pill to swallow by certain quarters, we must announce it,” he told Bernama.
Simsudin, who is also Labuan Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) chief, clarified that the nomination of the chiefs was based on a ratio of 10:8:8:1 of 10 village chiefs from PKR, eight from Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), eight from Warisan and one from DAP.
The Barisan Nasional (BN)-UMNO village heads stopped discharging their duties after the PH took over the government in May, leaving the people in each of the 27 villages (excluding the housing estates) “without the captains”. The contracts of the 27 village heads officially expired in October.
A month before the new school term and until yesterday, many villagers, including residents in the housing estates, faced difficulty in getting the village head’s verification for the school documentation.
It is learned that the delay in finalising the village head appointments was allegedly due to disagreement among PH component parties over some of the nominated candidates, with certain villages not agreeing with the proposed names.
It is also learned that there had been swapping of candidates at the last minute, resulting in the delay in the appointments.
Labuan Corporation chairman Datuk Seri Amir Hussien said the local authority was still finalising the candidates’ profile for a final decision.
“We hope we should be able to announce the new village chiefs the latest by January 10,” he said. – Bernama
