KUALA LUMPUR (July 12): Representatives on the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) advisory board appointed by the ousted Barisan Nasional (BN) government are holding on to their positions for the time being.

According to a report by The Malaysian Insight yesterday, a number of them said that they will not resign until they are formally asked to do so.

“We were appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and so, it is only right that the instructions to step down come from him. There must be proper procedures,” MCA’s Ng How Doo told the news portal. 

As Ahmad Faisal Abdul Karim from Umno, he said “he has no problem resigning, as he understands that the government has changed”.

“But, it should be done in the proper manner, as our appointments were sanctioned by the Agong.

“I will resign after I’ve received an official letter from DBKL, as when I was appointed, I received an official letter from DBKL.  

“I have no intention of holding on to the position until the expiry of my contract in November 2019,” he said.

He also added: “Of course I will resign if the mayor asks. No need to wait for a letter from the Agong, as we are mature enough.”

Earlier this week, Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad trained his guns on the BN politically appointed DBKL councillors.

He said DBKL will follow correct procedures to make sure the councillors will resign “but will not set a timeframe for them to ‘understand’ that they must go”.

“Eventually we will be forced (to fire them). If they still don’t want to resign and don’t understand, then we will follow the proper procedures,” he warned. 

Last week, Khalid announced that advisory board members of DBKL who were politically appointed must step down as BN is no longer in power in Putrajaya.

Those who came on board with the “Umno ticket” should resign, he said.

There was however a single resignation from Datuk S Rajah of MIC.

His move was praised by Khalid: “I wish to congratulate him on his decision to step down from the position when Barisan Nasional (BN) is no longer in power. This behaviour is appropriate and honourable.

“I wish to congratulate him on his decision to step down from the position when Barisan Nasional (BN) is no longer in power. This behaviour is appropriate and honourable,” Khalid said.

The Malaysian Insight reported that those still on the board are Ng, Faisal, Rizalman Mokhtar (Umno), Mustapa Kamal Mohd Yusoff (Umno), Zainal Abidin Mohd Rafique (Umno), A. Samalah (MyPPP) and Wilson Lau Hoi Keong (Gerakan).

They were appointed by the Agong for a term of two years from 2017 based on the recommendation of former FT Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.