Fwd: [PFSteeringCommittee] Local Government Elections - POSTPONEMENT

From: khim pa <pakhimghee@gmail.com>
Date: April 20, 2012 2:21:42 GMT+08:00
To: ParticipantsofPenangForum@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [PFSteeringCommittee] Local Government Elections - POSTPONEMENT
Reply-To: PFSteeringCommittee@yahoogroups.com

 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Andrew Yong <andrew@yong.at>
Date: Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 6:27 PM
Subject: [sembang-forum 527] Re: Local Government Elections - POSTPONEMENT
To: sembang-forum-notification-group@googlegroups.com


Dear all

Please note that this Saturday's forum has been postponed because we have been advised that there is an embargo on the bill until it is tabled in the Legislative Assembly. This is a question of respecting the privileges of the Assembly.

Accordingly, we are planning to have the public forum on Sunday 6 May, at a time and place to be announced.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

Andrew

On 16 April 2012 17:25, Andrew Yong <andrew@yong.at> wrote:

The Penang State Government will conduct a public forum on 21^st of April 2012, to discuss on the steps towards the restoration of local government elections in Penang. The Penang State Government has drafted a Local Elections Bill for Penang, and the forum will be a platform for the civil society to engage the government and to provide their views and inputs for the said bill.

Speakers: YB Chow Kon Yeow (Penang State Executive Councillor) Mr Tommy Thomas (Constitutional Lawyer), Prof Francis Loh (President of Aliran), Jerald Joseph from (KOMAS)

Moderator :Andrew Yong (Chief Minister's office)

Date: 21/4/2012

Time:10am to 1pm

Venue: KOMTAR Auditorium A (Level 5)
Objectives:
(1) Discuss draft Local Government Elections bill to relevant stakeholders, civil society organisations, and interested groups.
(2) Discuss and collect input on the process of restoring local government elections in Penang and the steps to be taken.

Focus:
The State Government of Penang is committed to restoring local elections with the objective of returning to ratepayers the right to elect representatives at their local councils. This quest to return the third vote, however, faces obstacles in the form of a Federal-friendly Election Commission, which come under the purview of the Prime Minister's Department, who are unwilling to implement local elections in Penang despite repeated requests made. The Penang State Government, with the advise of its legal team , decided to  issue a Gazette notification exempting all the local authorities within Penang from applying Section 15 of the Local Government Act. This would result in section 15 not being applicable in Penang and is the first step towards seeking a court declaration to compel the Election Commission to conduct local government elections. Further, a Local Government Election Bill will be tabled in the coming Penang State Legislative Assembly sitting, which begins April 30. This forum brings together distinguished speakers who have vast experience in legal matters, social activism, Parliamentary democracy, and academia to discuss and deliberate upon the process of restoring local government elections in Penang  

--
Visit the Sembang-sembang Forum Blog at
http://sembangsembangforum.blogspot.com
_______________________________________________
 
To post to this group, send email to
sembang-forum-notification-group@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
sembang-forum-notification-group+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/sembang-forum-notification-group?hl=en?hl=en

__._,_.___

Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic

Messages in this topic (1)

Recent Activity:

Visit Your Group

Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use

.

__,_._,___