JKKK members upset over being dropped - The Star

May 6, 2008

SEVERAL village security and development committee(JKKK) members in Nibong Tebal, Penang, are upset that they have not been reappointed to their posts.

Shaharon Nordin, former JKKK member of Kampung Baru, said many had tendered their resignation and were waiting to be reappointed.

“Later, we found that our names had been dropped. We were not invited to a briefing between former JKKK members in Penang and Rural and Regional Development Minister Senator Tan Sri Muhammad Taib at Dewan Millennium recently,” he said in an interview.

Muhamad had during the meeting said that those who had resigned as JKKK members would be absorbed into a mechanism to be set up by his ministry.

Shaharon said many who were not reappointed had served the people well.

He said the move not to re-appoint them was also against Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Ong Ka Chuan’s decision that all former JKKK members in the Pakatan Rakyat-led states would be reappointed as coordination committee members under the Federal Government.

Ong had said that this would allow for continuity in the development projects in the states.

Shaharon said he went to the Batu Kawan Umno office last week to collect the nomination forms to be-come co-ordination committee members but discovered that invitation cards to the meeting with the minister were missing.

“I believe that certain Umno leaders in Batu Kawan have dropped our names in favour of their friends,” he added.

Former JKKK member Nasir Ariffin, 59, said Umno leaders who were behind this should try to unite local leaders for the people’s sake.

“Instead, they are causing more friction. We are here to help lea- ders regain the confidence of the people after the general election,” he said.

A former Kampung Kepala Gajah JKKK member who declined to be named said: “All former JKKK members from Gerakan, MCA and MIC have been re-appointed except us. We sense something is not right as the Umno election is just a few months away,” he added.

Penang Umno liaison committee deputy chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Rashid Abdullah said the Rural and Regional Development Ministry had agreed to reappoint former JKKK members to serve directly under the Federal Government.

“However, we have not submitted their names to the ministry following their resignation as JKKK members,” he added.