By Goh Ban Lee
IT`S only recently that one hears or reads about "civil society" and its growing role in urban governance. What is civil society? Why is it important? How should the local authorities deal with it?
Like most social science terms, there is no one definition for civil society. A common one is "a voluntary participation by ordinary citizens in governance". In most instances, it concerns environmental, social and economic activities of non-profit bodies such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
Malaysia could be considered to be among the countries that are slow in embracing civil society in urban governance. While conservationists were hugging trees to prevent tree-felling or forming human-chains to prevent demolition of heritage buildings in the West, there were hardly any similar activities here. Had there been such ardent activists, it is doubtful if Bukit Antarabangsa would see so many development projects, especially the high-rise blocks.
Part of the increasing visibility of civil society in urban governance is the allocation of more space for the workings of local authorities and urban issues in the newspapers. More importantly, the advent of Internet and portals commonly referred to as "blogs" has given many activists a vehicle to broadcast their views or display cases of negligence by the local councils. An example is the e-community Internet portal of the residents of Subang Jaya (www.usj.com.my). It played an important role in the residents` successful protests against a proposal to build a food court on a piece of land reserved for a police station (the Sun, Oct 24, 2004).
It is advisable for the local authorities to embrace the realities of citizen participation in urban governance. It does no good for the image of a local council to have pictures of rubbish piles or broken swings in the playground being paraded in the blogs. Sending pictures in the Internet to thousands of people only requires a few clicks of the mouse.
Furthermore, no matter how hard-working the mayor and senior officers of a local authority are, it is not possible to keep track of the situation in every nook and corner of a municipality. Making use of ordinary citizens to be their eyes and ears is not only smart but also very beneficial.
In this regard, the Pakatan Rakyat component parties, especially DAP and PKR, have taken pole position in winning the goodwill of NGOs. In Penang, Perak and Selangor where the Pakatan Rakyat is in control, about a third of the 24 councillors are nominees from NGOs. Although there are some grumblings about broken promises to have more NGO representatives, the fact that the Barisan Nasional controlled states have still not appointed NGO nominees makes the PR look people-friendly.
It is too early to evaluate the impacts of NGO representatives in the local authorities. Nevertheless, there are glimpses of hope as reflected in the workings of Petaling Jaya City Council, especially in its handling of the billboard issue.
Since there are hundreds of NGOs in the country, there are many disappointed ones regarding appointment as councillors. However, having representatives in the local councils is not the most effective channel to effect change. Indeed, if the NGO representatives have no role in important committees, such as the one-stop-centre committee that approves town planning applications or the tender board, or if they are not willing to spend time reading dull meeting agenda and supporting documents, there is little contribution.
An effective measure in bringing about policy change or improvement in urban governance such as more accountability and transparency is to prepare well-researched documents and carry out public campaigns. An example is the 10 reports covering social and planning issues that were presented to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng by the Penang Forum, a coalition of NGOs ("Ignore NGOs at your peril", March 5).
Hopefully, government leaders have the good sense to take the reports seriously. Despite being free, they are prepared with conviction and by people who know the local situation intimately. In most instances, they have the backing of very qualified people. On the part of the NGOs, constant monitoring of the fate of reports that are presented to government leaders is necessary; otherwise, like most reports, they are left to collect dust.
There is, of course, no certainty that civil society is inherently a force for good. But this is what makes urban management so challenging and the study of urban governance so interesting.
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Dr Goh Ban Lee is a retired academic interested in urban governance, housing and urban planning. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com.
Source: http://www.thesundaily.com/ (11 April 2009)