KUCHING : Serian DAP branch chairman, Edward Luwat urged Sarawak Government to speed up the appointment of village chiefs.
He said quite a number of villages in Serian District are without officially appointed chiefs, administratively called “Ketua Kaum”. This leaves the villages without “heads” who administer the villages.
“Due to that, disputes, offences against local customs, social problems and others are not settled, addressed or attended to. There are documents that need to be attested by the village chiefs and they are kept hanging due to no village chief.
“Many have no choice but to seek for the assistance of the next higher level community leader, the Penghulu, for assistance. The penghulus are not easy to reach as they have many villages in their large areas of jurisdiction and also are often committed to their scheduled duties or earlier appointments,” he said.
The village chiefs are appointed under the “Ketua Masyarakat Scheme of Service” and they serve a two-year term subject to renewal. The end of each term is known and in cases where their terms are not to be renewed or extended, they are informed in advance.
In such a scenario, the villagers are notified to elect a new chief. Ideally this should be done prior to the expiry of the term of the chief to be replaced
Edward said there is an unnecessary wait for Ketua kaum and it causes problems and hardships to the kampung folks.
“They are even told that despite being certified by the Medical authorities to be medically fit to hold the position, there is another hurdle to clear, which is ‘Vetting by Bukit Aman’ meaning security screening by the Police Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. Is this really necessary?” he asked.
The kampung folks know best the candidates for appointment as their chiefs. They know best, their background, social standing and capability to lead. Police vetting is necessary but the local Police authority, Head of Police District or the Sarawak Police Headquarters should be good enough to screen them.
On the other hand the District Officers and Residents should be empowered to decide on the appointments of “Ketua Kaum”. They are the appropriate administrators who could make the best ground assessment of the candidates.
“The Chief Minister’s Office should only give a green light for the appointment as emoluments of Ketua Masyarakat are under their budget. I don’t think that there are no good reasons to delay their appointments,” he added.
