Find other ways to reward people, says Ipoh City Watch

IPOH: March 20, 2008

The state government should consider other ways of rewarding the people rather than waiving summonses and compound notices, a local council watchdog said.

Ipoh City Watch president Chan Kok Sun said the waiver, announced for all councils by Mentri Besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin on Monday, may send the wrong message to the people in the state.

“This may provide some kind of financial relief to the defaulters and perhaps this may be the intention of the new state administration, to reward voters.

“But we feel this waiver may set an unhealthy precedent for the state or other councils,” he said in a statement released yesterday.

Chan noted that the move was unfair to many people, pointing out that the summonses and fines had rightly been issued for offences committed.

“The honest pay the fines while those who delayed payment got the exemption – that is not right.

“The intention of the new Mentri Besar may be noble. But the state leader has the responsibility of avoiding making decisions which send wrong signals to the people,” he said.

On Monday, Mohammad Nizar announced the “one-time arrangement” to thank people for supporting the DAP-PKR-PAS coalition and to help reduce their burden.

The waiver was for all unsettled compound notices involving traffic and hawking offences issued until March 17.

Mohammad Nizar, however, reminded the people to abide by the rules after this, adding that this was a not a move to encourage wrongdoing.