MPS chief's transfer illegal, say councillors

Ahmad Fadli KC Nov 15, 2012

Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) said the Public Services Department (PSD) does not have the powers to transfer out a local council president.

Exco member Eric Tan Pok Shyong claimed that department’s move yesterday to transfer MPS chief Zainal Abidin Aala to the Institut of National Institute of Public Administration (Intan) contravenes the Local Government Act 1976.

“The PSD is not established under any act. It is only an agency that assists the government.

“Therefore what powers do they have?” he said during a press conference at Menara MPS today.

In what some have suspected to be linked to the Batu Caves condominium controversy, Zainal was given a 24-hour notice for the transfer.

Former MPS councillor and present senator A Kohilan Pillay had organised a BN-led protest to allege that the Pakatan Selangor government was responsible for plans to build a 29-storey condominium close to the iconic Batu Caves temple.

However Selangor exco Ronnie Liu subsequently exposed details showing that MPS councillors under the BN-led government, that included Kohilan himself, had approved of the project in 2007.
Yesterday, Liu speculated that Zainal's sudden transfer could be due to his Oct 30 press conference, in which he cleared Pakatan of approving the controversial condominium project.
Selangor MB Abdul Khalid Ibrahim has since ordered the works to be stopped, and not to be left out, Prime Minister Najib Razak ironically has also promised that the project would be scrapped if BN wins back power in the state.
Transfer 'unprofessional'
Tan meanwhile said the matter also went against Article 132(2) of the federal constitution that places the appointment of a state official under the authority of the state government.

“Under the federal constitution, the federal government does not have the right over state officials,” he said.

Another Selayang councillor A Rahim Ahmad Kasdi alleged that the transfer was a form of “punishment” for Zainal to “freeze” his career advancement.

“Intan is known to be a ‘cold storage’, an easy life with little work to do,” he said.

Other councillors voiced concern that the 24-hour transfer was “unprofessional and (the federal government) seen as “always hindering to the administration of the state”.

They called for the federal government to review such procedures.

They added that MPS will hold an emergency meeting to urge the state government to take tough action against the move.