Disgruntled councillors file petition against MPSJ chief

11 MPSJ councillors, dissatisfied with the conduct of council president Adnan Md Ikhsan, submitted a petition to the state government.

During the council’s full board meeting on Monday, councillor Chang Kim Loong represented the group in handing in a copy of the petition to the president. According to Chang, the original copy has been sent to the menteri besar’s office.

Councillor Chang

He reiterated some 13 councillors’ earlier request to declare the April 28 meeting on the USJ 6 TM land issue as invalid. He, however, did not disclose the petition contents in the meeting.

Adnan accepted the petition but disallowed the councillors to continue raising the USJ 6 case.

“The State Planning Committee has given us an order not to discuss the case again,” he said.

In a meeting on April 28, a motion to cancel the revocation of development approval to a piece of land in USJ 6 was passed with a slim majority. Pro-revocation councillors claimed they were given late notice about the meeting.

Another councillor, Theresa Ratnam Thong, asked: “What is so sensitive about this? Why can’t we as councillors convene (about) the issues? Who are we protecting here?”

A councillor who signed the petition said the file contained seven items. He and his fellow councillors however kept mum on the contents.

When asked whether the petition addressed the USJ 6 TM land issue, the councillor who requested anonymity said it was not related. Instead, the petition addressed Adnan’s ‘behaviour’ and 11 of the councillors were signatories.

Meanwhile Chang also suggested the council urge MPSJ staffs, who own low-cost houses despite ineligibility, to declare their ownership to MPSJ within 30 days.

“In this sense we can protect our staff before media or other people expose (them).”

Due to past policies, Chang said it was quite probable that there were low-cost house owners among MPSJ staff.

He also proposed to have the council’s audit and corporate governance committee be given full authority to investigate the issue.

In the later press conference, MPSJ president Adnan Md Ikhsan neither denied nor confirmed that the council’s staff could have purchased low-cost units.

“Maybe yes, maybe not. I don’t want to comment.”