PUTRAJAYA: Federal Territories Minister, Khalid Abdul Samad has appointed six Kuala Lumpur MPs as members of the Ministers Council to assist the duties of the Federal Territories Ministry (KWP) and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).
He said the appointment letters presented on Monday involving members of Parliament who do not hold government posts such as minister, deputy minister or special envoy.
The MPs and their portfolios are Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (Setiawangsa) for Education; Fong Kui Lun (Bukit Bintang) for Tourism, Arts and Culture; P. Prabakaran (Batu) for Youth and Sports; Datin Paduka Dr Tan Yee Kew (Wangsa Maju) for Health and Women’s Affairs; Lim Lip Eng (Kepong) for Traffic and Infra and Ahmad Fahmi Mohamed Fadzil (Lembah Pantai) for Social and Economic Development.
“We want to ensure the MPs in Kuala Lumpur are also involved in the management of government administration even though they were not appointed as minister, deputy minister or special envoy so that they are exposed to administration and experience running the government,“ he said in a media conference here today.
According to Khalid, most of the portfolios will be chaired by Kuala Lumpur mayor and he will be chairing the Tourism, Arts and Culture portfolio while his deputy Datuk Dr Shahrudin Mohd Salleh will chair Social and Economic Development portfolio.
In this regard, when asked on the protest by food truck traders near Dataran Merdeka yesterday because DBKL did not issue license to trade in the area, Khalid said the matter has been resolved.
“Initially, when we want to move into the area, many complained it was difficult, now suddenly they want to come in to trade.
“In the beginning, only 12-14 food truck were interested but now 40 food truck traders want to join. As such as we decided they should take turn to trade along Sultan Abdul Samad building and the matter would be discussed further with the mayor,“ he said.
He said the change of location to Jalan Raja, Kuala Lumpur to replace the stalls in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman lanes and Jalan Masjid India was considered successful.
“We will be conducting a post-mortem after this and we will share the actual situation but many traders appeared happy, some traders even sent me baju Melayu and I assumed they are satisfied,“ he said.
He also said a proposal paper of the ministry for Taman Rimba Kiara development project would be ready by tomorrow for distribution to the related ministries and the Attorney- General’s Chambers for comments next week. — Bernama
