DBKL’s advisory board appointed – Not a single representative from the Indian community!

Kuala Lumpur: The Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, after several months of delay, has finally announced the members to the advisory board, with Datuk Seri Fadlun Bin Mak Ujud as its chairman. Together with the Chairman, the board comprises 15 members, but surprisingly, there is not a single representative from the Indian community.

Sources said, the tenure of DBKL Advisory Board members for the last term ended in May 2025 but new members were not appointed since then. The term of each member is usually 2 years and according to records the board always had a representative from the Indian community.

For many years, there was always a representative from the Indian community appointed to DBKL’s advisory board. During the Barisan Nasional government, the state chairman of MIC Wilayah Persekutuan, Datuk Raja Simon, was a board member for several years. Previously, Mr Jayakumar from PKR was a member of the advisory board.

Several social media postings expressed dismay and condemnation for ignoring the Indian community in Kuala Lumpur, who comprise about 15 to 20 per cent of the voter population. Some also stated why the tradition of always appointing a representative of the Indian community, as practised in the past, was now ignored by the DAP’s minister for Wilayah Persekutuan, Hannah Yeoh. DBKL advisory board is not only for Kuala Lumpur but also for other federal territories of Putrajaya and Labuan, where there is a sizable Indian population. Furthermore, in Kuala Lumpur, the Indian community faces many issues relating to temples, squatters and Tamil schools. Therefore it is surprising how DBKL and the Ministry of Wilayah Persekutuan completely overlooked the presence of a Indian representative in board.

As per the announcement, the 15-member advisory board comprises 4 representatives from the Chinese community and 11 members from the Malay-Bumiputra community.